Sandstorm
by Ladyawesome45321
Summary: Deserey Dunet has a mental illness. She suffers from severe depression with the side effect of suicidal thoughts. Despite her family's attempts to help her get better, she has attempted suicide multiple times in the last year; but when a strange man comes to her claiming he's a time traveler, begging for her help to save the future, she just might find her reason to live.
1. It's a Rip off of Doctor Who

It was a blissful feeling when the sweet release of death welcomed you with open arms. It was even more liberating when you could choose how it ended. For Deserey, the decision was easy.

Life's tole had become too much. It was as though there were heavyweights tied around her arms and legs, forcing her to crumble to her knees in agony. Things that should have been easy, fun even, had become tedious work. Getting up for her job was a constant struggle; she just couldn't find the motivation to get out of bed. Talking to her ex-husband, or even hugging her kids sucked all the energy out of her.

Everything she did, every movement she made was just exhausting. Life, living had become exhausting.

She'd been this way for years, and she had lost so many good friends because of it. It wasn't really that they were bad friends or that they didn't care. In fact, they were amazing. They had always been there for her, always comforted her, always talked her out of doing something she'd regret. But even good friends got tired.

That's the way it always went. People grew tired of dealing with her and her baggage...and then they left. Her friends. Her family. Her husband. Everyone...

Deserey was over it all. The pain, the constant numbness throughout her whole body. People leaving. So, she had decided to take her own life.

She'd tried to do it once before, but each time someone had stopped her and sent her to a mental hospital. (But the hospitals never helped. The shrinks did nothing.) This time, though, she was sure that nothing would stop her. She would finally be free.

Deserey tossed the makeshift noose she'd made from her scarves over the ceiling fan before tying one end to the bed to hold it steady.

She climbed onto the step stool she'd placed at the center of the room and placed the noose around her neck.

Taking a deep breath, she moved one of her feet to the edge of the stool.

"You don't want to do that."

Deserey yelped, startled. She slipped off the stool, and the scarves shifted up her neck, squeezing her throat and making it hard to breathe. She gasped for air, as her lungs screamed, begging her for oxygen. Her vision blurred, and her mind swirled like a whirlpool.

Vaguely, she registered someone wrapping their hands around her waist, attempting to hold her up. She heard a sharp snip! noise and she fell to the floor.

Dark spots danced in front of her eyes, flickering like the lights in the city. The room was doing three-sixties. A figure stood in front of her, worried blue eyes staring into her weary brown ones. It was a skinny man with blonde hair.

"Sorry, Miss Dunet," he muttered. "But I need your help, and unfortunately, I can't get that if you're dead..." He took something from his pocket, but before Desrey could see what it was a white light flashed in her face. She fell unconscious.

* * *

The night was dark, the only light illuminating the rooftop being the stars in the sky above. Laying flat on their backs were nine men and women, each of them unconscious.

After a moment or two, they began to stir simultaneously. They each groaned in turn. Deserey felt a pounding in her head like a million tiny people were banging on her skull. She sat up, clutching her head, and stared around the rooftop at all the others. She didn't know any of them personally. What the hell had just happened? How did she end up here with so many strangers?

"Agh," groaned one man. He was a muscular man with a buzz cut and a mean snarl. Deserey thought he looked familiar, but she couldn't place where she'd seen him before. He wore a grey shirt, red suspenders to hold up his pants, and a burned up jacket. "What a headache."

Deserey sighed, as the daunting realization finally hit her. She wasn't dead. The British guy in her apartment had been real. "Fuck," she grumbled, glaring at her hand. "I'm still alive..."

"What?" Next to her was a nerdy man with dark hair and dazzling eyes. He didn't say anything, but she got the feeling he was one of those annoying optimist types. Probably one of those people who said things like, "You have so much to live for, why would you want to kill yourself?" This man had most likely never experienced an ounce of self-doubt in his life; he would never be able to understand why she wanted to take her own life. So, she figured it would be best if she didn't tell him anything. He was wearing a bulky red and blue super suit. Deserey snorted at the site.

"Nothing," she grumbled at the brown eyed man. "And isn't a little early for Halloween costumes?"

"Huh?" he frowned. "Oh! This isn't a Halloween costume. It's the Atom Suit. I'm kind of a superhero."

Deserey nodded slowly, pushing her dark girls away from her face. "Sure," she said. "Why the hell not?"

"Stein?" yet another man frowned. (Seriously, how many guys were there?) He looked familiar as well, with his expression was cold, calculating, like he thought he could outsmart everyone on that roof in a matter of seconds. This man, like the man in the suspenders, also had a buzz cut. But while Suspender Guy's cut added to his aggressive exterior, Ice Man's made him look smooth, calm. (And maybe just a little dangerous.) He wore a blue parka and a pair of jeans. "What the hell are you doing here?"

A sassy response drew her attention to an old man. (Deserey guessed he must have been Stein.) He was by far the oldest man on that roof. His hair was a series of grey and white. He wore a red shirt, jacket, khakis, and black glasses. The look reminded Deserey of one of her college professors. (Before she'd dropped out that is.) "I'm as ignorant as you are for once, Mr. Snart," he said.

Deserey gasped. The name had struck a distant memory in her mind, and she realized why Ice Man and Suspender Guy looked so familiar. She had seen them on the news multiple times, usually fighting that stupid speedster guy. The Blur or some crap. They were thieves, hardcore criminals, hell-bent on robbing Central City blind - Captain Cold and Heat Wave, aka Leonard Snart and Mick Rory.

"What the hell am I doing on a roof with a bunch of criminals?" Deserey yelled at no one in particular.

"Better question. Where are we?" one of the other women asked. She was a gorgeous blonde woman with enough moxy to rule the world. She was wearing a thick fur coat, black pants, and leather boots.

Another man shrugged. He was the youngest out of everyone on the roof; he wore a grey shirt and green jacket along with jeans and sneakers. His body was ripped with muscles. Deserey guessed he must have worked out a lot. Either that or he was a really sporty guy. "Why don't you ask the dude who knocked us out and kidnapped us? British dude with a flashy thing? Ring any bells?"

"Actually yeah," Deserey said. "He stopped me from -" She stopped abruptly, thinking it may not be the best idea to tell them she'd been about to kill herself before she'd been kidnapped. "From doing something stupid."

Next to Sporty Dude were more dorks in costumes - a man and a woman. The man had short sandy hair, and the woman had long curly, brown hair. They wore matching leather suits, and they were holding matching helmets in the shape of hawk heads.

"Who was that?" the woman asked.

Despite the dumb attire, Deserey couldn't help but compare herself to the other women. Blondie had an air about her, radiating a confidence that Deserey could never have. She appeared as though nothing could get to her. She was invincible.

Deserey was just the opposite. She'd cry, even at the smallest insults. One implication that she couldn't do something, and she'd give up. Her emotions were a constant roller coaster, and she consistently worried about what other people thought of her.

Hawk Girl didn't seem as confident as Blondie, but she still seemed tough. She was undoubtedly the kind of person who knew what she wanted and went for it.

Even their looks were far better than hers. Blondie's skin was several shades lighter than hers, a breathtaking, pale glow. Her blue eyes sparkled with intensity. The light from the stars made her hair look extra shiny.

Deserey's skin was dark, like the mud on the ground. She didn't glow. Her eyes didn't shine. And her frame wasn't a thing as Blondies.

Hawk Girl's skin was lighter, still. Her eyes were dark brown, like Desetey's but somehow they still showed brighter. She was the skinniest of them all, and she managed to make even that moronic costume look glamorous.

Deserey looked down at her own clothes, realizing just how plain she was in comparison. She was wearing an ugly, oversized sweatshirt and baggy running pants. (She'd been planning to be dead by now. Dressing up didn't seem like a thing that would be important, but now she sort of wished she'd put on something prettier.)

Hawk Girl's curls were more defined than Deserey's. Hers was like a princess, twisting elegantly in beautiful patterns, leaving room for her bangs to be straightened. Deserey's hair was less curly and more frizzy. Often it was a chaotic, untamable mess.

A man walked out from the shadows, revealing himself to everyone on the roof and bringing Deserey out of her lustful daydream. He had blonde hair and a scruffy beard; he wore a long brown trench coat. The man spoke with a British accent. She'd only seen him for second before, but Deserey knew this was the man who had stopped her from killing herself. She couldn't forget those eyes. "The name's Rip Hunter," he said. "I'm from east London."

Deserey raised an eyebrow at him. Rip Hunter? What sort of name was that? It must have been some sort of nickname, she guessed.

Rip paused for a moment, considering another thought. "Oh," he said as if he'd almost forgotten. "And the future."

"Nice to meet you, Rip," Mick snarled. He reached for his belt, where his heat gun should have been.

"Uh, while you were incapacitated, I may have tampered with your weapons," Rip informed him.

"Good," Deserey muttered. "I'm in no mood for murderous psychopaths." She wanted to go out her own way; she didn't need to get caught up in the crossfire of some criminal.

Apparently, Heat Wave didn't agree, because he made a growling noise and send a glare her way. Deserey did her best not to shrink away, but the guy was known for being pretty dangerous and unpredictable. If she wanted to avoid getting brutally murdered, then getting on his bad side may not have been the best idea.

"I've assembled you all," Rip continued, ignoring Deserey and Mick, "because I need your help." He began walking across the rooftop, passing in front of each of the men and women in turn. "The future of the world is in peril because of a man by the name of Vandal Savage."

Rip stopped walking when he had reached the other side of the roof. He stood with his back to the men and women, possibly to look as dramatic as he possibly could.

Hawk Girl frowned at her male counterpart.

"That can't be," Mr. Hawk said. "We destroyed him."

"Yeah," Hawk Girl nodded in agreement. "The Green Arrow and Flash helped us do it."

"Who?" Deserey asked. She felt kind of stupid asking the question. Everyone else seemed to have at least a vague idea of who she was talking about, but Deserey was at a complete loss.

Rip glanced at her for a brief moment. "A vigilante and metahuman hero." He turned back around to face the two hawk people, a knowing look upon his face. "And therein lay the problem," he said. "Unless you or Mr. Hall deliver the death blow, Savage can be restored from but a single cell."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Mick asked.

"Vandal is immortal," the hawk man, Mr. Hall apparently, explained. "Kendra and I reincarnate." He gestured at the woman in the Hawk costume.

Blondie nodded slowly in understanding. "Yeah," she said, "I've done that."

"Is everyone on this roof batshit crazy?" Deserey muttered.

Mick grunted. He was getting very impatient. "What the hell does this Randal guy get to do with us?" he snapped.

"Vandal," Rip corrected. He walked back to where he stood at the beginning of their little meeting. "In the future, he will employ the evil he's perfected over his long life, and the power he has amassed throughout history, to finally...conquer the world."

Deserey stared at him, unblinking. The story seemed a little far-fetched. How could one person single-handedly take over the world? And immortality? Even with all the metahuman freaks running around it was hard to believe.

"I've been tasked with assembling an elite team to stop him," Rip told them.

"How?" Blondie asked.

Rip moved his arm across the skyline dramatically, emphasizing his point and making it seem much more appealing than it actually was all in one go. "To travel through time. To capture Savage, before he grows into the monster he becomes."

Deserey couldn't stop herself from laughing at his words. Everyone turned to her, frowning. Most of them looked kind of annoyed, but she didn't really care. "Time travel?" she asked. "Really?"

"Yes," Rip said. He seemed a little offended by her reaction. "That's what I said."

"...Right," she nodded. "And you said you were tasked to form a team? By who?"

"We're called the Time Masters," Rip said. "We watch over the timeline and see that nothing disrupts it."

"Ah, so you're a rip of Doctor Who," Deserey said, getting a smirk from Snart. "So why'd you pick us?" She gestured around at everyone on the roof. "This doesn't exactly look like the most functional team - a team with a pair of good for nothing criminals, just by the way."

"Watch it, Sandy," Mick hissed.

"Sandy?" she frowned. Blondie gestured at the bag hanging over Deserey's shoulder. There were a few specs of sand pouring out, as the bag was tilted sideways. Deserey fixed it so that it was upright and shrugged the arsonists comment off.

"Whatever," she said.

"She has a point," Leonard said. "Hero ain't exactly on the resume. So, I think you've got the wrong guy, Rip."

Mick nodded in agreement. The two started to walk away from the others, no doubt to find a way off this damn roof.

"And I'm no better," Deserey said. "I'm nobody. I'm not a hero. I'm not a villain. I'm just a normal person trying to...escape."

Rip sighed, and - in a desperate attempt to make the two men stay and to convince everyone else - he said, "I know it's difficult for you to fathom." And this got the crooks to stop in their tracks and the others to look at him curiously. So, he continued. "But where - when," he corrected, "I'm from, the year twenty-one, sixty-six, you - and everyone on this roof - aren't just considered heroes..."

Rip paused for a moment, letting the drama and anticipation build up inside the men and women, especially Atom, as he had the largest hero complex of all. "You're Legends," Rip told them finally.

Deserey knitted her brows together, taking in the British man's words. She glanced at the others on the roof. "Well, I'm not feeling very legendary. You guys feeling legendary?"

Atom shrugged. "I could get behind that," he said.

Stein hesitated. "Well, I hate to nitpick, but don't legends have to be dead?"

Sporty Dude snorted bitterly. "Yeah, see that's a deal breaker for me. So, I'll pass."

"But even if we're not legends we'd still be dead," Blondie pointed out. "It's a hundred-something year in the future."

"Then, why should we give a damn?" Heat Wave growled.

"Because," Rip said, "if you don't this is what's in store for your world hundred-fifty years from now."

He took a small remote from his jacket pocket and raised it into the air, before pressing a button. In an instant, the once clear sky lit up with a gruesome scene. The fire erupted from buildings, seemingly out of nowhere. The ground was in ruins, rubble and decay spreading out for miles. Dead bodies littered the scene, blood seeping out of their mouths and ears. Through all the chaos and destruction, Deserey still somehow managed to recognize the city. It was her home - Central City.

Rip took the image down a second after putting it up, but it still lingered in Disney's mind. She shoved her hands in her pockets, hoping no one noticed how badly they were trembling. She'd never seen anything like that before.

The others had deep frowns embedded on their faces, but they didn't seem nearly as affected by the scene as she was, like they were used to seeing destruction and violence. Deserey wondered what exactly caused a person to 'get used to it.' How many times would you have to experience it, before you simply didn't care all that much anymore? Or did they care more than Deserey thought? Maybe they were just better at hiding their feelings.

Rip turned to the group again, a serious expression on his face. "I could have chosen anyone, from any time. But I chose you nine, because each of you, as individuals, are destined for greatness." He paused again, eyeing each of them in turn. "I sure hope you won't let me - or the world - down."

The group exchanged a few looks with one another, each silently questioning whether or not they should help this so-called time, traveler. Rip walked over to Stein, passing him a piece of paper.

"If your answer is yes," he told everyone. "Meet me at this address in thirty-six hours."

* * *

 **I'm sorry. I really shouldn't start new things until I finished other things...but there's a lot of these pics floating around and I wanted to try one of my own because of of...well why not?**

 **Here's a small chapter to test the water. What'd you think? How was Deserey? Do you like her? Hate her?**

 **I really hope I'm portraying depression and suicidal thoughts alright. They're hard to write even when you've experienced it for yourself. But I wanted her to grow from this point, find something to live for with the Legends you know?**

 **Anyway...**

 **I'd like to thank sparkle123tt for helping me name this one, come up with her powers, codename, for making this lovely cover and this lovely super suit! (see pictures on Watty)**

 **I really do love them so much. Thank you. You've been so much help, listening to me ramble on about the Legend Kids, helping me figure out my plots, making random things for me. You're really an amazing friend.**

 **I hope y'all enjoyed this enough to keep reading the next time I update it. If not I ask that you do one of these three things, pretty please.**

 **1\. Give constructive feedback. I'm cool with y'all disliking my stuff, but hate is very annoying. I don't like dealing with it.**

 **2\. Stop reading. Why stick with something you hate? *shrug***

 **3\. Create and account if you don't have one already, write a book, and send me the link in a PM. I will read it to see how it is done.**

 **Til next time, take it easy guys, gals, and non-binary pals! Peace out! (That's from Sanders Sides for anyone who doesn't know.)**


	2. To Be or Not to Be

Leonard and Mick scowled at the address in the professor's hand. They agreed to write it down, but neither really seemed as though they particularly cared to join the mission.

Atom glanced around at everyone, as he entered the address into a small keypad on his suit's arm. "So what do you think?"

"I think that's five minutes of my life I'm never getting back," Snart grumbled.

Stein blinked. "He just showed us the entire world in flames! You can't turn your back on that!"

"Observe," Snart told him. Then, he turned and walked away, heading towards the door that would allow him to get off the roof. Rory wasn't far behind him.

Atom nodded, as he watched them go, hands on his hips. "I think we can all agree the mission will go a lot smoother them gone."

"I haven't signed on yet," Blondie said.

Deserey nodded. "Me neither."

"And I'm not signing on at all!" Sporty Guy huffed.

Stein frowned. He started to say, "Jefferson -"

"No," Sporty Guy, Jefferson, interrupted. "I'm not going off to die in some apocalyptic future. I'm staying right here in the present." He pointed down at his feet with a rough gesture, to make it abundantly clear. Then, he turned and walked away. (Though it was in the opposite direction the criminals had gone, leaving Deserey to wonder just how many doors were on this roof. How did everyone know where to go to get off? They didn't even know where they were a few minutes ago.)

"Let me talk to him," Stein said. He followed Jefferson.

Deserey glanced around at the others. Mr. Hall and Kendra were standing by the edge of the roof, away from everyone else, talking quietly to one another. She walked over, curious what they thought about this whole time travel business.

They seemed to be in the midst of an argument. Kendra had her arms folded over her chest, a deep frown on her face, as she listened to Mr. Hall.

"Two hundred six times," he was saying. "Savage has killed both of us, two hundred six times!"

"Yeah," Kendra shot back. "And I'm not too eager about making it two hundred seven!"

"Running away never solved anything," he reasoned. "And we've almost defeated him with help before."

"Almost, Carter. Almost," she repeated, her voice low, stoic.

Deserey was secretly happy that Kendra used his first name. Even if she didn't join the team with them, she hated referring to people by their last names. It was too official. Too professional. Professionalism was for family Christmas parties and and business trips.

Carter sighed, turning to Deserey as he spotted her approaching. Kendra turned to see her as well.

"Hi," Deserey said. "Sorry."

"No," Kendra shook her head. "It's okay."

Deserey shoved her hands in her pockets, as a cool breeze wafted over her, making her shiver. "So, I take it you guys are on the fence too?"

Kendra shook her head. She shifted her weight from foot to foot, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. Desrey frowned, noting how the pose made her look precious, like a doll.

"It's more complicated than that," Kendra told her.

"More complicated than meta humans running around all over Central City?" Deserey challenged.

Kendra paused for a moment. She titled her head to the side, looking thoughtful for a moment. "Touché."

Carter nodded. He went on to explain how exactly their reincarnations worked. (It wasn't as fun as Doctor Who made it look.) Apparently, during the Ancient Egyptian times - in their first life - Carter had been Prince Khufu (which Deserey thought was interesting. She was a bit of a history buff.) and Kendra was a priestess known as Chay-ara.

Savage was a priest known as Hath-set, and he'd killed them, jealous of their relationship; but at the same time meteors filled with alien technology crashed down to the earth, giving them all powers. Carter and Kendra had lived through multiple lives, and in each one they were hunted down and murdered by Savage. (They did say, however, that they could use objects from their first life to kill him. Though, thus far, they had been unsuccessful in doing so, hence Kendra's unease about this mission.)

Deserey frowned, as she listened to their story. She understood very little of it; it was baffling to think about living thousands of lives. She could barely handle living one. Just tiny inconveniences, like some idiot making fun of her, had her ready to hang herself. Major stresses, such as paying off her mortgage, made her want to jump off this roof. She couldn't imagine having so many lives, so many memories stuck in her head. How insane they must have been from it all...

"You're right," she said. "That's pretty complicated..."

Kendra nodded. "So, you get why I don't think this will work?"

"You don't think you can actually beat him," Deserey said.

"We've been trying for four thousand years," Kendra said. "I don't see why this life would be any different."

Carter fumed slightly. Clearly, he had a different opinion than his wife - er, girlfriend? What were they in this life?

Deserey looked back and forth between the two, taking notice of the tension among them. She guessed the stress of living multiple lives on top of being hunted like animals really put a couples' relationship through quite the turmoil. It brought to mind her own troubles with her ex husband - the way he had grown tired of dealing with her troubles, the way he had eventually left, unable to cope any longer.

They still seen each other now and again, when Deserey picked up/dropped off their kids from/at his place. But normally, their visits with one another were brief, because every time they met these days all they did was fight. It was difficult to handle most days. But somehow these two looked as though they could pull through. (They had been together for four thousand years after all.) Deserey couldn't fathom that sort of loyalty.

Everyone she had ever loved left her, quickly growing tired of her and her issues. In fact, some of her old friends had even wondered if she was faking her depression simply to get attention. All those times she had attempted, and failed to commit, suicide. Those nights she spent complaining about feeling numb, about not being good enough... It irritated her friends, pissed her family off. Now, she had no one. At least it felt that way. Anyone who was still left in her life would no doubt be leaving her behind soon, as well. She was a disaster, and she would destroy them right along with herself.

A heavy weight placed itself upon her chest, and Deserey felt as though she were sinking. Her head was becoming difficult to hold up; her limbs felt numb. She was sure that her lungs were filling up with liquid, drowning her, even though she was no where near the water.

Three hours ago, Deserey had texted her ex husband. It was a goodbye, a note. She had been expecting to be dead by now, but here she was...Alive.

She felt guilty, for having caused him to undoubtedly worry. Not to mention, he would be extremely pissed when he found out she hadn't gone through with it yet. It was one of the many things that had drove them apart. There were moments, in which she hit an all time low.

When she got in those moods, it was extremely easy to make another attempt at killing herself. It seemed like the only escape, but he had grown exhausted from trying to keep her away from the knife. It wasn't easy to fight the darkness. And if given an option, most people would rather ignore it than take it on.

He was one of them. But Deserey had never really been a good actress.

"Well, I just remembered I have something I need to do," Deserey said. "But, uh, good luck figuring...this out." She gestured around them, insinuating the whole time travel mess. Then, she turned, walking past Atom and Blondie, towards the door that the crooks had left from earlier.

The images of the future flashed through her mind, as Deserey pulled her car into her ex husband's drive way. She couldn't get them out of her head. The others were warriors, heroes (or villains), battle warn. They were all use to seeing such things. Deserey, however, was not.

The images unnerved her, making her stomach churn wildly, like one of those water rides at the amusement parks. She remembered what Rip had told her. Those images were her future. Sure, the events wouldn't happen for another one hundred fifty years, but it still felt as though this Vandal Savage guy was personally attacking her. And that was a little hard to digest. All those people...Those were here neighbors. All that destruction...That was her home...

Deserey shook her head, forcing the images out of her mind's eye. It was too hard to think about. Glancing up at her ex's house, Deserey felt another form of unease. She knew it was a mistake coming here. She should have just gone back to her apartment, finished the job. But for some unfathomable reason, she had come here instead.

The images Rip had shown her stuck her head, stopping her from going home again. Stopping her from attempting to take her life once more. She couldn't understand why. All she really knew was that she wanted someone to talk her out of it.

It was funny, really. She didn't want to live anymore, but she couldn't bring herself to end her life. Every time she tried she either failed or chickened out. Life, she supposed, was a trap.

Still, she had, no doubt, already caused a load of drama and trouble for him tonight, sending him that last note/text. She felt guilty, bugging him once again with her problems. Deserey worried that he might feel as though she were just playing games with his heart, and that thought was much more unbearable than the burden of living.

Deserey sat in her car, staring at the front door of the house just a few feet away, trying to work up the courage to move towards it. She shook her head at herself, cursing at herself in her head. Deserey was about to back out of the drive, planning to simply leave him alone. She didn't need to make his life worse. Everything would be a lot better for him, for everyone, if she just went home and ended her wretched life.

But before Deserey could move, the front door opened, and she spotted her ex husband walking down the driveway towards her. He did not look happy.

Deserey groaned. She already knew this wasn't going to be a fun conversation. Coming here had been a huge mistake...

Still, she found herself getting out of the car, meeting him half way. He was a beautiful man. She had always thought so, even after everything that had happened between them.

His chestnut eyes drew her in, even if they were glaring at her in anger and, quite possibly, hatred; his skin was soft and rich, like carmel candy. Deserey would never forget the way his hands felt, when they touched her. She'd never forget the way she walked with the clouds, when her lips met his soft, pink ones. Her favorite thing about him, though, (at least physically) was his hair. Midnight black, fluffy, like a sheep's wool.

Every time she seen him, Deserey was reminded of just how much she loved him. Of how much she missed him. He had been the best thing in her life, always supporting her, loving her, even on her worst days.

Darryl had constantly reminded her how beautiful he thought she was. He always made her favorite meals for her, listened to her interests. He had truly been the best, but she had let him slip through her fingers. God, she missed him so much. How could she have possibly let him go so easily? How could she have driven him away?

She started to say something to him. "Darryl -"

He held up his hand, stopping her mid sentence. "Don't. Just...don't." He took a deep breath, letting out a heavy sigh through his nose.

"Why?" he asked. "Why do you always..." Darryl stopped a moment later, shaking his head. "I'm sorry. I don't mean it like that." He took his cell phone out, the text she sent him hours ago flashing in her face. "But do you have any idea what it does to me, when you send shit like this?"

Deserey opened her mouth to respond, but before she could Darryl gestured back at the house. "What it does to them?" Deserey glanced at the house, spotting their kids - Anita and Daren - peaking through the window at them.

"You can't keep putting them through this, Dez," Darryl said. His voice was hallow, broken. She felt her heart sink in the water that had flooded her chest on the roof. He was broken because of her. It was all her fault...because everything always was.

"I'm sorry," Deserey muttered, looking down at the ground. The gravel blurred, as tears welled in her eyes. "I'm so sorry..."

He put his phone back in his pocket, shoving his hands in his pockets, shaking his head. "I need more than that this time, Dez. I can't keep doing this. I don't want to keep explaining this to my kids! I don't know how. They think that their not good enough for you, Dez. They think it's their fault."

Deserey didn't look up to meet his eyes. She felt as though she were being pierced in the heart with a knife. His kids. That's what he had said. His kids. Not theirs. Not hers. His.

They were hurting because of her. She was destroying them. Their family. Their home... She didn't deserve to be apart of it.

Darryl rubbed his hands along his face, blinking rapidly. He turned, like he wanted to leave, but he stayed put. "I'm not saying this to make you feel worse. I know it's hard, working through this. And I've tried to be there for you...I really did...I just...I hate seeing you this way. I can't stand it anymore."

He lifted her head up with his hand, making her look at him. She blinked back more tears, as she met his eyes. It was the same look he had always given her, the glassy look that always let her know he cared. It was gentle, full of warmth. Her heart had always melted, when he looked at her that way. "I don't want you to kill yourself," he added. "Please, know that. But I think you need...to do something. Because whatever this is? It's not working..."

Deserey nodded slowly. She hesitated for a moment, before confessing about her chat on the roof top. Savage, the future, Rip Hunter, the super heroes...It sounded weird, when she spoke about it, but on the roof Rip had somehow managed to make it sound much more normal. (It was just another thing she fucked up.)

Darryl nodded along, as she retold the Time Master's story. His eyes lit up, as though it was a vacation, instead of a dangerous mission involving an immortal psycho taking over the world in the future.

When she had finished, Darryl immediately said, "I think you should go. Get away for awhile. Clear your head. Who knows? Maybe it'll be good for you."

Deserey shrugged, unsure. "I don't know. I'm not an assassin, or a hero, or even a crook. I can't fight. I barely know what I'm doing with my powers. Next to the others, I'm nothing..."

She folded her arms over her chest, her hand gently falling against the sand pouch hanging off her hip; she didn't like thinking about the night she got her powers. When the Particle Accelerator exploded it ruined her life. Corrupted the one safe space she had. It turned her into even more of a freak than she had been before.

"So have them teach you," Darryl said. "Train with them. Learn how to be a hero."

Deserey still hesitated. She doubted she would be able to learn much from these people. Probably she'd screw it all up, just like she screwed everything else up. If anything, the mission would most likely go a lot smoother without her messing everything up for the rest of them. But Darryl looked so sure about the idea, so excited about the prospect. Deserey couldn't bare letting him down again.

So, she nodded. "Okay. Fine. I'll do it."

Darryl smiled lightly. "Good. I hope it does something good for you, too."

Deserey doubted it. She glanced behind him, where their kids were still staring at them through the window. "What about them?"

"I'll tell them something," Darryl said.

She looked down at the sand pouch, playing with the strap of the bag. The last thing she wanted to do was leave them, especially after she had caused so much trouble for all of them tonight. But she knew Darryl was right.

She had to do this. She had to go. To find herself. "Will you tell them I'm sorry?" She hesitated for a moment, before adding, "Tell them I love them. Tell them they're the most important things in my life. They're the best things that have ever happened to me." She looked into his eyes one last time. "All of you are. No matter what happens. No matter what I've said or done in the past. I love you. All of you."

Darryl nodded curtly. "I will. And good luck."

The two hugged, and for a moment Deserey let herself reminisce. She could almost pretend he had never left her in the first place. They had never been broken. They were still very much in love, like the day he had asked her to marry him. She breathed in, letting his scent invade her nostrils once again. He smelled like cigarettes, but she didn't care. She loved it all the same. She loved him...

He pulled away much too soon for her liking, and her heart wrenched, as he turned and walked back into the house. When the door closed behind him, Deserey let out a choked sob. She knew it was stupid, but she felt as though she had just been shut out of her family's lives. Permanently.

 **And there we have chapter two! I hope y'all enjoyed it. It was really fun to work on, even if Dez's story is a sad one.** **However, if you did not I ask that you do one of these three things:**

 **1\. Use constructive constructive criticism.**

 **2\. Leave.**

 **3\. Make an account if you don't already have one, write/show me your work so I can see how it's done**

 **What do you think of her ex husband? I know he probably won't be more than a side character or even a one off character...but does he seem cool? I wanted him to be supportive, but he also wants to have self preservation, you know?**

 **Welp, that's all for now,**

 **Toodles!**

 **~ Elsie**


	3. The Waverider

The streets were damp with rain, and crumbled leaves drifted across the sidewalk in a gust of wind. Between the road and the walk, the grass was moist with dew; there were a few seemingly abandoned buildings in the background and a couple of random trees in the foreground. Up in the sky, clouds littered the air, forming giant, white sheep. Deserey thought the place was a little too open for a secret meeting. (But then again so was a rooftop.)

Sitting on the sidewalk, she spotted Blondie and Atom. He had changed into street clothes -- a dark red shirt, black jacket, and matching pants. He lost the helmet, along with the bulky suit. Now, he was showing off his dark, close-cropped hair and dazzling brown eyes. The man reminded Deserey of a small child, the way he grinned so brightly, and she vaguely wondered what in the world there was to be so happy about.

Blondie was wearing a black long-sleeved shirt, green cargo pants, and a belt. Her honey-colored hair still hung loosely over her shoulders, though, making Deserey just a little jealous. She could never really pull that look off. Her hair was much too wild and frizzy, which was preciously why she had it pulled back into a tight ponytail. She had changed clothes as well, thinking anything would look better than ugly sweatpants, but now she felt quite overdressed in all her accessories, leather, and wool.

"Hey," Blondie waved. "So, you decided to come."

Deserey nodded. "I wasn't gonna. But my husband talked me into it." She cringed when she realized she had forgotten to add the word ex. The divorce was still much too new to her; she didn't use to calling him her ex out loud. But she didn't bother to correct herself, not wanting to look stupid.

Blondie didn't seem to notice anything unusual about her speech, though. Instead, she went on, as if it were the most natural thing in the world for her. (Deserey envied her for that.) "Same with me and my sister. I'm Sara, by the way. I think you're one of the few people I haven't met before this." She stuck her hand out, and Deserey shook it.

"Deserey," Deserey responded. She glanced over at Atom, raising an eyebrow. "And do you have an actual name, or did your parents just hate you?"

Sara smirked, as he stuttered, a little caught off guard. But his smile soon returned. (Actually, he seemed incapable of frowning for more than two seconds.) "Ray," he said. "My name is Ray."

"Well nice to meet you both," she said quietly. She figured if they were going to be on a team together, she'd better start making nice before they realized how much of a screw up she was.

Kendra and Carter appeared next, along with the two criminals. The crooks didn't appear to have changed their outfits since the night before, but Kendra and Carter and traded their hawk costumes in for normal people clothes.

She wore a black leather jacket over a white shirt and green pants. He was wearing a dark green shirt over a black jacket and matching pants, sunglasses placed over his eyes.

Sara looked at the criminals skeptically. "I thought being heroes weren't on your resumes?"

"It's not," Leonard told her. "We're just here to rob history blind."

"Of course you are." She rolled her eyes. "Crook."

She turned, strutting towards the center of their meeting place, as a silver car pulled up. The others followed her. Stein got out of the car, looking around in confusion. He looked a little flustered and annoyed, but Deserey couldn't blame him. Sure, they had only just arrived a few moments ago, but so far there was no sign of Rip at all. You'd think if you were enlisting the help of superheroes, you'd be on time!

"Professor!" Leonard called, noting the old man's confusion. "This is the place."

Ray looked around, curiously. "I think we're being punked." He frowned for a moment, before adding, quickly, "Do people still say punked?"

"No," Sara told him with a heavy sigh. Deserey got the feeling she found the guy a tad annoying. (Not that she blamed her. She couldn't really stand to be around giddy people for very long either.)

Mick nodded at Stein's car, where they could all see a sleeping Jefferson. (Or Jax, as Deserey would later learn he preferred.) "Looks like your buddy threw himself a going away party," the arsonist noted.

Stein shifted awkwardly, muttering as he responded. "Yes...I, uh, believe he drank something that...didn't quite agree with him."

Mick laughed at that as if it were the funniest thing in the world. Deserey was a little unnerved though. The professor had, evidently, drugged and kidnapped someone. Was no one else concerned about that?

Deserey looked around to see the other's reactions. But no one really seemed to care about it. Leonard simply ignored the professor and Jax. Instead, he turned to Kendra, a bored expression on his face. "You don't look happy to be here."

"Perceptive," Kendra muttered back with a huff.

"Well, I see you've all decided to come." A rip appeared out of nowhere still wearing that trench coat over that leather jacket like he had the night before. (Seriously, how cold was it in the future that he felt it necessary to wear two jackets?) "Shall we be on our way?"

"I ain't footin' anywhere," Leonard said, stubbornly crossing his arms.

"Lazy," Deserey muttered. He shot her a glare, but she pretended not to care.

Rip took a remote from his pocket. (How many did he have?) As he fiddled with it, he began rambling on, "Now, a Time Master's sacred charge is to do no harm to the timeline. Can you imagine what a time ship would look like in, say, Victorian England?"

Stein's eyes widened in realization, and he muttered, "Holographic indigenous camouflage projection."

"Indeed," Rip grinned.

Deserey frowned. "Not to be that one douche, but can you repeat that in English please?"

In response, Rip pressed the button on his remote. The air fizzled for a second, like a heat wave on asphalt. After a moment, a ship appeared, almost as if by magic. It was something plucked straight from a SciFi movie -- big bulkhead doors, giants masts, tiny windows, guns placed on the underbelly along with a glowing, orange substance. On one side in big, white lettering WR - 2055 was painted.

The group stared at the ship in awe. Carter removed his sunglasses as if he were checking to see that they weren't playing tricks on his eyes. Sara's mouth hung open, stunned. The two crooks shared a look, visibly impressed. Ray and Stein looked as though they might die of a fangirl attack. (It was every nerds' dream to go time traveling wasn't it?)

Deserey would have been lying if she said she wasn't the least bit impressed by the ship as well. She couldn't believe her eyes. Not even the most amazing metahuman abilities in the world could compare to how magnificent, though old, the vessel looked. The thing sort of reminded her of one of those ships from her son's favorite Star Wars movies -- the Millennium Falcon.

"It's called the Waverider," Rip informed them, looking upon the ship with pride in his eyes. "It's been my ship for over a decade." He turned back to the team, looking rather eager. "Shall we?" he asked again.

This time, the team followed him without question, marching on to the ship at once. (Well except for Mick, who was stuck lugging Jax on board.)

The inside was just as stunning as the outside. Metal floors lead through narrow hallways; the walls were lined with thick pipes and red lines. Their feet clanked against the floor as the walked. Deserey looked around in amazement, as she followed behind Stein and Ray. They were arguing about something scientific, but she wasn't really paying attention. Instead, she laughed to herself, thinking just how jealous her son would be.

Then, she felt a jabbing sensation in her chest, as she remembered she hadn't really spent much time with him lately. A sense of longing slowed her down, causing Mick to bump into her and almost drop Jax. He made an annoyed sound, which resulted in her picking up her pace.

Up a head, Deserey could hear Sara scolding Leonard. She rushed forward to see what the drama was about.

"...Just trying to make conversation," Leonard was saying in a lame attempt to defend himself.

"Yeah," Sara snorted. "I could tell by the way you were staring at my ass!"

Deserey snickered at the comment, as the assassin left the dumbstruck thief behind her. They rounded the corner, entering a large, twelve-foot by twelve-foot room with polished marble floors and a ten-foot high ceiling. At the front of the room, there was a massive window, through which she could see the grass and concrete of the outside. In the back, there was a small office, connected to the room through an open doorway; and at the center, a console was placed along with just enough chairs for everyone to have a seat. (Convenient.) The chairs were metal structures with leather padding; they had safety harnesses connected to the headrests, similar to the way roller coasters were designed.

Jax was already slumped over in one of the chairs, still unconscious, the harness looped over his shoulders to keep him from falling out. Mick was standing next to him, but when he spotted the professor he grinned brightly and marched over to him. "Whatever you roofied him with, I'd like some!"

"I did not roofie him!" Stein protested.

"Oh, I ain't judging," Mick promised.

"But I am," Deserey said. "I am actually judging you very harshly."

Stein pouted, before walking to the front of the room with the others. Kendra glanced around, as she and Carter entered. She wore a smile, causing her features to glow brightly.

"I've never seen anything like this before," she muttered.

"Neither have I," Carter said, glancing around, an amused look on his face. "And considering we have four thousand years of memory, that's saying something."

Stein turned to Rip when the Hawks had joined the rest of the team at the front of the ship. "How does a vessel of this size function without a crew?"

"I don't need a crew," Rip insisted. He nodded his head at the console in the center of the room, which the chairs surrounded. There, a holographic image appeared, and Deserey nearly choked on the air in surprise. Ray patted her back helpfully.

The image was a blue head. It looked pretty feminine -- long eyelashes, defined cheekbones, thin lips -- and the voice sounded distinctly female as well; but according to Deserey's kids one should never judge one's gender on such things. (It was a matter of the heart, they'd informed her, not a matter of looks or genitals.)

"Greetings," the head said. "I am Gideon, an interactive artificial consciousness programmed to operate this vessel's critical systems and aid Captain Hunter in his mission."

"Captain?" Leonard questioned. Deserey wasn't sure why that, of all things, would be the one thing that stuck out to him, but she didn't ask about it. She figured she had already pushed the criminals' buttons enough with her sarcasm, and she really did not fancy getting iced (or torched) to death. (If it was going to happen, it was going to happen on her terms. No one else's.)

"Gideon's been working on helping me locate Vandal Savage," Rip said.

Ray frowned. "I thought you said he's pretty active in the twenty-second century?"

"Perhaps engaging Savage at the height of his powers isn't the best strategy," Stein pointed out.

Rip nodded, walking to the center of the room so that everyone could see him. "Indeed," he agreed. "Unfortunately, Savage has kept his movements hidden throughout history."

Deserey made a face. "So, you're saying he can time travel?"

Rip shook his head, turning to face her with a huge frown. "Now, that would be a truly frightening sight, wouldn't it? Fortunately, Savage has no idea time travel is possible."

"I'm confused. You just said --"

"Yes, but what I meant by that was that he's had over four thousand years to plan his world domination," Rip explained. "And to do so, he's worked his way up, always whispering in the ears of those in power...but never quite taking it for himself."

Deserey rolled her eyes. "Well, that's kind of stupid."

Everyone looked at her, stunned, and she felt her cheeks heating up. She looked down at her feet, thinking she must have said something dumb. No one said anything harsh about it though, which Deserey was thankful about.

Instead, Ray shrugged. He tilted his head to the side, visibly considering what Deserey had said. "Well, it kind of makes sense. No one would ever suspect the guy next to the one in charge. I guess, he figured he'd take all of them down first, before stepping up to take charge for himself?"

"Does it matter?" Kendra asked. "He's a psychopath. I doubt he has a reason behind doing anything."

Sara shook her head. "That's not true," she said. "Have you ever been to Gotham City? They're full of insane fucks, but all of them can still make pretty elaborate plans. All of them have something to motivate them."

Stein nodded in agreement with the assassin. "Like the Joker, for example. He is, for some unfathomable reason, obsessed with the vigilante called Batman."

Mick nodded at Carter and Kendra. "Same way Savage is obsessed with the chicken people?"

The room went silent for a moment. Carter glared at the arsonist, and Kendra folded her arms over her chest, staring at the ground awkwardly. Deserey scratched the back of her head, as Ray coughed into his fist.

"Damn," Deserey muttered. "Brutal."

Rip quickly ran to the front of the room, where a single chair stood in front of all the others. (Deserey guessed that one must have been his.) "Anyway!" he said. "Since Savage has kept his power hidden throughout history, not even Gideon can find him...But I have the next best thing. The man who can."

"Who's that?" Sara asked.

"Professor Aldus Boardman," Rip told her, as he took his seat. "One of the -- well, actually, the only -- leading expert on Vandal Savage, and we're going to pay him a little visit."

Gideon's holographic head disappeared from the center console, but her voice still rang out across the room. "Course heading: St. Roch, New Orleans."

Carter frowned. "St. Roch?" he repeated softly. He knit his eyes together, the way one might do if they were trying to remember a distant memory, and Deserey felt a bang of sympathy. For him and Carter, everything must have seemed like a distant memory. She wondered if the two had had a life in St. Roch at some point.

"October 17, 1975," Gideon continued.

"I suggest you all strap yourselves in," Rip called over his shoulder. "Temporal navigation isn't something one wants to be standing up for..."

"Speaking from experience are you?" Deserey asked. But she moved, along with the others, to take a seat. Simultaneously, the team pulled their harnesses over their heads, preparing for lift off. Mick smirked, "Time travel. Cool."

Rip turned his chair around to face them, looking serious as he spoke, and Deserey was reminded of the way a pilot on a commercial airplane might instruct the passengers to fasten their seat belts during take off. "Some of you may experience some slight discomfort," he warned. "In very rare instances there will be some, uh..." He looked down, fiddling with the controls on his armrest, as he muttered, "bleeding from the eyeballs..."

Kendra's eyes widened. She held on to her harness, panicking a little. "I'm sorry. What?"

Deserey shifted uncomfortably. "That was a joke. Right?"

Rip didn't answer, though, which made her a little uneasy. Instead, he pressed a button, and the lights overhead began flashing blue. The Waverider started vibrating lightly, and Deserey felt her body shaking slightly with it. It made her head buzz, and her teeth clattered together; it sort of felt as though she were sitting in one of those massage chairs, kicked into overdrive.

"The human body is used to time unfolding linearly," Rip went on, explaining why they'd have side effects. The ship slowly rose into the air. As the nose of the Waverider pointed upward, Deserey got that tingling sensation she always got, when she was on a rollercoaster moving uphill. She clenched her jaw together, as her ears popped wildly. Now, she wished she had brought some gum. She didn't really like the stuff very much, but she knew that chewing gum helped this sort of thing, when flying a plane. (She wondered if time traveling was any different.)

The ship continued vibrating, as it leveled out. Below, the ground was nothing more than a speck of brown and green. She could no longer see Stein's car or the buildings of the surrounding area. Clouds could be seen just outside the window, as they whooshed past them.

All the rumbling and ear popping must have woken Jax, because a moment after they'd taken off, he began stirring. He glanced around, blinking.

"Jefferson!" Stein grinned. "I'm so glad you're awake. I didn't want you to miss this!"

"Miss what?" Jax asked. He glanced around again, before realizing he wasn't...where ever he had been expecting to be. The young man jumped, grabbing the harness around him. "What the --"

"Language!" Deserey scolded, simply out of habit.

Rip turned to Jax, urgently, ignoring Deserey. "I wouldn't unfasten those if I were you!"

Jax glared at him. "Get me off this...Whatever this thing is!"

"Good luck explaining this one," Sara sighed at the professor.

"I did him a favor!" Stein insisted.

Leonard snorted. "He doesn't look all that grateful."

Ray frowned, glancing at Deserey. "Is anyone going to comment on the fact that Dez just said: language?"

Deserey groaned. "I'm never gonna live that down, am I?"

"Just hang on," Rip told everyone, turning his chair back around. "And remain calm. All your worlds are about to change."

He pushed the lever on his chair forward, and the Waverider accelerated even more. An orange gas substance formed around the ship for a second, spreading like fire. But once Deserey blinked, it was gone again, and all she saw was green.


	4. He's a Star Wars Gag

The ship shook violently; the only thing Deserey could see through the window at the front of the ship was a sea of green waves. The waves swirled around the Waverider for a second, before a tunnel opened up and the ship flew through it.

Once again, Deserey could see the cloudy sky surrounding the ship, but this time it seemed slightly different. Down below, instead of concrete and city buildings, she saw bright green grass, thick crimson trees surrounding the meadow. They were no longer in Star City, and it was no longer fall. They were in St. Roch, and it was, she guessed, summer or spring. Time travel. It really was cool.

As the Waverider touched the ground, the ship's vibrating slowly decreased, and the lights faded back to normal. Fortunately, no one was bleeding from the eyes. Unfortunately, Deserey's ears were ringing like a bitch. Whenever she opened her mouth to speak, the ringing only increased, forcing her to sit back and press her hand to her temple. She groaned. It was like a tiny television set was in her head, and it had really crappy connection.

Mick leaned forward, gagging like he was about to throw up. Sara made a face. Deserey cringed, but she wasn't nearly as grossed out as some of the others appeared to be. As a mother, a gal tended to clean up a lot of gross things, which made her fairly immune to almost all the puke, poo, and bloody situations. Still, the noise was killer on her head. The louder something was, the more the buzzing increased.

"Oh," Rip muttered, as the team started to stand. "I should have mentioned before, nausea is one of the side effects of time travel."

Ray stumbled, as he attempted to walk to the center of the room. He tripped over his feet, falling flat on his face with a loud thud and causing the buzzing in Deserey's head to increase yet again. She flinched at the noise.

"Along with vertigo," Rip added. He stood up and walked around Ray, but he didn't bother to help the poor guy up. Deserey thought that was kind of rude.

"I can't see!" Stein announced, sounding quite alarmed.

"And temporary blindness," Rip said. "It should only last a minute. After all, that was a mere jaunt." He walked calmly over to the professor, waving his hand in front of his face. After a minute had passed, Rip stood up right and asked, "Better?"

Stein shrugged, "It's all relative."

"The further back in time you go, the worst the side effects," Rip told everyone, walking to the center of the room.

Deserey grunted. "Now you tell us." She clutched her head, groaning, as the ringing continued. Why wasn't her side effects wearing off? Everyone else seemed perfectly fine by now.

Jax glared at Stein, as he stood from his chair. "I can't believe you kidnapped me." Stein had enough brains not to respond for the time being. So, Jax instead turned his attention to Rip, who had placed himself at the head of the center console. "Hey! I want to go home."

"Good news then," Rip said, "Twenty-Sixteen will be around in, uh, forty one years." The tone in his voice made it very clear that they were not turning around for anything. They had already come all the way here, and they would only go back when they had finished what they had come to do. No amount of whining could possibly change the captain's mind. He'd said it with such a familiar finality, too, and it didn't take Deserey long to recognize it. She'd often used that tone of voice herself, before her depression had really taken a tole on her. It was, as her kids liked to call it, the Parent Tone. Every parent had one.

Deserey wasn't sure if the buzzing in her head made her delirious or if she was just excited about the prospect of another parent on board, but she found herself asking, "You have kids, too?"

Rip visibly stiffened. Deserey frowned. She had struck a nerve somehow, by asking the question. Slowly, he turned to face her, still a little tense in the shoulders. "Uh, no," he muttered. "I...don't have any kids."

"Oh," she said softly. "Sorry. You just sounded like --"

Rip cut her off, swiftly turning to Sara, Mick, and Leonard. "You three. Feel free to make yourselves comfortable back here on the ship." He turned to the others. "The rest of you are coming with me to find Professor Boardman."

Deserey frowned, a little hurt that he had interrupted her. She shook her head, sure that she was just being too sensitive. He was just worried about the future. There wasn't time for random small talk that was brought up unprovoked. (Besides, the more she thought about it, the more her head pounded like a drum set.)

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Mick said, and his voice did little to stop the pounding in Deserey's head. "You're benching us?"

"I thought we were a team," Sara pouted.

Rip shrugged. "This mission doesn't require your particular skill set...yet," he added with haste.

Leonard nodded, and he ever so helpfully put it in a more blunt fashion, "Meaning you don't need anyone killed, maimed, or robbed."

"Precisely," Rip said. He turned, heading for one of the bulk head doors, before Ray stopped him again.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to leave these two unsupervised on a time machine?" the Atom asked, nodding at Heat Wave and Cold.

Mick growled. "Hey, Haircut, deafness wasn't one of the side effects."

Deserey leaned her head back against the head rest of the seat, as the buzzing intensified. "It's okay. I've got a killer headache. I stay back and baby sit."

Leonard raised an eyebrow at her. "You think we'll listen to you?"

"Everyone listens to mother," she told him, "especially Mamma's boys. Which I can tell all of you are." She gestured around the room at all the boys.

Ray frowned, looking curious. "How can you tell? You just met everyone last night."

Deserey sat up, in spite of her head screaming at her to go find a nice fluffy pillow and sleep on it forever. "If I tell you, you're all going to be very insulted, and you're masculinity will suffer a great deal."

Sara grinned and leaned closer to her. "Now I want to know."

Deserey shrugged. "Let's just call it mother's intuition."

"Well you're wrong," Mick grunted. "I killed my mother."

Deserey blanched. She wasn't sure what she was expecting him to say, but that was definitely not it.

"With fire," he added.

Rip shifted, looking rather impatient with everyone now. "We should hurry. Professor Boardman will die in less than twenty-four hours."

Ray gave him a look. "What's the point in cutting it so close?"

"If he's to die, then he doesn't have a time line for us to disrupt, and his impact on the future will be minimal," Stein pointed out. "How brilliant!"

"And depressing," Kendra muttered. "How does he die?"

Rip sighed, annoyed. He glanced at the door, as if wondering what the hell it would take to get them all to go through it. "He's found dead in his university from unknown causes." With a swift turn on his heels, the captain said, "Come on!"

Rip left the room, the others following close behind him. However, Jax and Stein stayed back a moment. The younger man was glaring at the wall, arms folded over his chest; to Deserey she looked exactly like her son, when she and Darryl were forcing him to go somewhere he didn't want to go. (School, for instance.)

"Are you coming?" Stein asked.

"I'll stay put," Jax huffed.

Stein frowned. "You'd rather stay with them?" He nodded at the two crooks, who were still slouching in their chairs.

"They didn't kidnap me!"

Stein paused a moment, as he realized just how fed up the young man was with him. A look of guilt washed over his face, and he raised his hand, opening his mouth to say something. Deserey thought it would be another lame attempt to defend his actions, but instead he said, "Point taken."

"Don't worry Professor," Leonard smirked. "We'll take care of him."

A half hour later, the remaining group was lounging around, bored out of their minds. No one said anything. They just sat around, staring at the walls or fiddling with their shirt sleeves. The only noise was Jax's pacing and the television Mick had turned on. (It was blaring some old show Deserey couldn't remember the name of.)

The only upside to sitting around was the fact that Deserey's headache had finally subsided, and the buzzing had stopped completely. She leaned back in her chair, glancing at the tv. (At least she was trying to, but Mick was standing directly in front of it, making it a little difficult to see.)

"Why does this stupid station play nothing but reruns?" the arsonist grumbled.

"Yeah. Hey, can we play something better?" Deserey asked, directing the question at the ceiling.

"What would you like to watch, Miss Dunet?" Gideon asked.

"You got a file or something on all of us don't you? I think you know what I want..." Deserey muttered.

She smirked to herself, as the theme song to Family Guy started blasting through the ship's speakers. Sure, the show was extremely crude and vulgar, but she enjoyed it anyway. (Who didn't like a bit of dark humor every now and again?)

Leonard raised an eyebrow at her, looking curious. "You didn't strike me as the type to watch adult cartoons."

Deserey shrugged. "Well, now you know."

Sara leaned against the wall, an arm on her hip. "Hey, I thought you said you were married. Why did the AI call you miss?"

Deserey grinned sheepishly. "I may have been misleading. I'm divorced."

Sara blinked. "Wow."

Desserey gave her a look, a little self conscious. But the assassin just shook her head, quickly saying, "I mean, you don't look old enough to have two kids, get married, and divorced."

"Oh," Deserey laughed. "No. I'm thirty-four."

Sara laughed as well. "I thought you were in your twenties."

"Nope," Deserey shook her head. "Thirty-four." But she felt a little happy knowing that she still looked fairly young, even if she didn't exactly feel it.

Sara shrugged, walking over to where Leonard was sitting on the small stair case. "Anyway, am I the only one who could use a drink?" She rubbed her hands together, looking thoroughly excited by the idea. "I say we go get weird in the seventies."

Leonard spun around, a mischievous look in his eye. "Excellent idea!" He stood up and started out the door. She grinned.

"I got the perfect outfit." The assassin followed the crook. Mick and Jax weren't far behind them, either.

Gideon's voice rang throughout the room, trying her best to keep them from leaving. "Perhaps Captain Hunter was unclear with his instructions to remain on board?"

Mick rolled his eyes. "Shut it, metal mouth!"

"Oh." Leonard turned to Jax, looking serious. "You're not quite ready to run with this crew," he told him. "Sorry kid."

Jax scoffed. "Wait, you're just gonna leave me here?"

"I said I'd take care of you," Leonard called over his shoulder, as he followed Sara out of the room. Mick smirked, stalking after them.

Deserey chuckled lightly, as Jax huffed and went to sit back down. A few minutes had passed, and Sara came back into the room. She looked at Deserey.

"Hey, are you coming?" she asked.

"Nah," Desserey shook her head. "I'm a light weight. Won't be much fun with me around. I'll just stay here with Jax."

Sara shrugged. "Suit yourself." She skipped out of the room, ready to go drink herself silly.

Another half hour later, and Jax was starting to get a little antsy. Deserey just let him pace around the ship, as she binged Family Guy.

"Gideon," he said, as Deserey was ending the third episode of first season. "That is your name right?"

"How may I help you?" the AI asked.

"I assume this ship has a, uh, autopilot or something?" Jax said, glancing up at the ceiling.

"You assume correctly," Gideon said.

"Great," Jax nodded. "In that case, I'm gonna need you to take me back to twenty-sixteen. See, me being here is all a big mistake."

"Captain Hunter told me you'd try to do this," Gideon said. "And he also told me not to listen to anything you say."

"Well, you are a computer you have to listen to me!" Jax yelled at the AI.

Deserey chuckled at how childish the two sounded. They reminded her of her kids, Anita and Daren, arguing back and forth, trying to be the one in charge. The resemblance was actually quite uncanny, and for a moment she imagined Jax was a slightly older version of her son. The image made her heart ache. She really missed them, her family. She wished she could fix things between them, but she was worried that they might as well be broken forever. She sighed, playing another episode of Family Guy, as the arguing continued.

"You seem overwhelmed, Mr. Jackson," Gideon said. "If you'd like to go to the medbay, I'd be happy to prescribe you a sedative."

Jax growled in annoyance. "I do not need another roofie!"

Something exploded at the front of the room, blasting Jax off his feet. Sparks erupted from the window, shattering the glass. Deserey jumped up, dropping the futuristic iPad she'd been using to watch Family Guy.

"What was that?!" Jax yelled, sitting up.

"A thermite grenade," Gideon answered calmly, as if getting attacked by deadly weapons was completely normal.

Deserey blinked, running over to help Jax stand up. "Grenade?" she asked.

"It seems someone is trying to breach the hull," Gideon informed.

"No shit!" Deserey said, worried. "Who?"

"His name is name is Chronos. He's a temporal bounty hunter," the AI said.

The ship continued shaking, sparks flying in the air, as the attacks hit them from outside. Jax and Deserey stumbled, running to the console at the center of the room.

"The ship is taking heavy fire," Gideon told them.

"We noticed!" Jax huffed. "Aren't we supposed to be invisible or something?"

Another explosion erupted, making the two jump. "You need to get us out of here, now!" Jax yelled.

But Gideon didn't move the ship an inch. Apparently, they weren't allowed to fly anywhere without Captain Hunter. Lovely.

Deserey grabbed Jax's hand, and the two bolted into the hallway, searching for a better cover. "Why is Chronos attacking us?" Jax asked, as they ran.

"Perhaps Captain Hunter is best suited to answer that query," Gideon said.

"Fire photon torpedoes or something!" Jax told her.

"Only Captain Hunter is authorized to --"

"Where is Captain Hunter?" Jax huffed.

"Seriously!" Deserey yelled. "We're dying here!"

They reached the cargo bay door, in spite of the explosions and sparks rocking the ship back and forth. Deserey wasn't sure how leaving the ship would do them any good, but death by gun shot wound sounded a lot better than death by a piece of the ship crushing her skull.

Fortunately, however, when they opened the doors, they could see the team was waiting for them outside. Unfortunately, so was their attacker. The team was crouched down behind a large rock. They'd brought an extra man back with them. (Deserey guessed he was Professor Boardman, but she wasn't sure why they'd brought him along.) He was an old man with salt and pepper hair and a matching beard. Over his eyes he wore a pair of thin wired glasses. He wore a tweed jacket over his shoulders and a tie around his neck. Just like a stereotypical professor.

Deserey wasn't really paying much attention to him though. Her focus was on the guy shooting at everyone. Chronos, apparently.

He was a huge man, and his stature was only made even bigger with the armor that he wore. Thick, black plates covered him from head to toe. His boots were steel toed, combat. Large gloves covered his hands, and a heavy helmet made sure that the team could not get even a glimpse of his face. For a weapon, he held a huge gun, the same size of a rocket launcher. That would have been scary enough, but he grew even more intimidating, when Deserey realized that, despite all the weight he was carrying with his get up, he seemed to move fairly easily.

Chronos fired his gun into the cargo bay, nearly hitting Jax. Luckily, the young man was agile and was able to jump out of the line of fire just in time.

Deserey ducked behind one of the boxes, yelping, as the green energy from Chronos's gun hit the wall behind her. She peaked outside, watching as Kendra grew wings from her back, soaring into the air.

Hawkgirl swooped down, attacking Chronos. But he turned quickly, shooting another green bullet at her head. He missed by an inch, and she smacked him, knocking him off his feet. Quickly, the temporal hunter got to his feet, as Kendra's feet touched the ground again. She turned swiftly, charging at him with a high kick.

He flew back again, and the two fought, grabbling for his gun. Chronos quickly got the upper hand, pinning Kendra to the ground, but Carter flew over to save her, smacking the hunter in the head and sending him toppling over.

The two hawk warriors retreated, sprouting their wings from their backs and floating into the air, like a pair of angels.

Rip withdrew a gun from his pocket, as soon as the two were out of range. He fired blue lasers at Chronos, but he failed to actually hit him.

Deserey's heart pounded in her chest, as she watched the events unfold before her. She glanced at Jax, but he seemed much calmer than her. And she was reminded that even the youngest of the team had more hero experience than her. She clenched her jaw tightly. Now, was a really bad time to be having second thoughts...

Outside, Rip managed to hit Chronos in the shoulder, making him momentarily fall to his knees. Chronos hid behind a boulder of his own for cover, as he and Rip exchanged fires. Deserey was reminded of Star Wars, as she watched the green and blue lasers fly back and forth. Her palms were sweating, as she clenched them into fists, worried that the others weren't going to make it out alive.

The team ducked, as Chronos exploded the ground near their hiding place, blocking their faces from the sparks with their hands. They each simultaneously fell to the ground face first.

Stein got up, racing for the Waverider. He ran across the field, explosions erupting around him, as Rip and Chronos continued firing at one another.

"Oh," Jax muttered next to Deserey, "you crazy old man." He stood up and ran to the door way. Deserey was about to stop him, when she noticed Ray was running behind the professor too. Her eyes widened.

"Has everyone gone crazy?" she shouted.

Chronos fired his weapon, nearly knocking Kendra out of the sky, and Stein fell due to the after math of the explosion from his gun. Ray ducked down to help him up, and the two ran the rest of the way to the ship. Deserey could hear them arguing.

"Thank you, Mr. Palmer!" Stein said.

"Seriously?" Ray complained. "It's Dr. Palmer!"

Deserey rolled her eyes, as she stood up, ushering them inside the ship. Ray ran off, coming back a second later, wearing the Atom suit. He flew back outside, firing blue energy at Chronos.

Meanwhile, Jax and Stein met in the doorway. Stein leant on the doorframe, speaking urgently, "We need to merge!"

They clasped their hands together. Immediately, fire surrounded them, swirling like a tornado. After a moment, it disappeared...and so did the professor. Jax now stood alone, wearing a red and yellow suit with a strange piece of technology on his chest. His eyes were white like marbles; his hands were ablaze, as well as his head.

Deserey choked on the air. "So, that's what you two do."

Jax nodded. "Yeah. Kind of a long story." Then, he flew outside to join the fight as well, leaving Deserey standing alone in the cargo bay.

The team ducked, as Chronos tossed a small grenade at them, exploding their surroundings. Deserey cringed, trying to work up the nerve to do something helpful.

Chronos was about detonate another explosive, when a red car sped in from out of no where. The driver swerved around, smacking Chronos across the field. Sara, Leonard, and Mick popped out of the car, like real bad asses.

"We go out for one lousy drink, and you guys somehow manage to pick a fight with Boba Fett!" Leonard shouted so that everyone could hear him.

Deserey groaned. "Okay," she muttered, clutching the bag of sand hanging on her belt. "Okay. Guess we're doing this."

She gritted her teeth and ran out to join her team. Ray and Jax had taken to the sky with the hawks, blasting nuclear and atomic energy at Chronos. Chronos fired into the air rapidly, as the flying heroes swarmed him. Rip and Boardman bolted, while he was distracted. However, they must have been too slow, because Chronos still managed to hit Boardman in the torso. The professor went flying, landing roughly on the ground. Kendra and Carter went to help him immediately.

Deserey reached her hand into her bag, shaking terribly. Oh, hell why did she think she could do this? She was going to die out here!

She took a handful of sand and tossed it into the air, not really sure if anything would come of it. She'd only really tried her powers in small scales before. Nothing like this.

Mick and Leonard took turns firing ice and fire at Chronos, and Sara beat him with her batons. Deserey moved her hands in the direction she wanted the sand to go. Thankfully, it worked.

The sand surrounded Chronos, swirling around him, sticking to his helmet, blinding him. He stumbled around, trying to figure out what the hell was happening. While he was caught off guard, the others ran for the ship. Deserey followed, doing her best to keep the little sandstorm going. Ray and Jax flew back onto the time ship, Sara and the two crooks not far behind. Rip hung back by the door, helping Kendra and Carter get Boardman on the ship.

Deserey backed up slowly, stepping onto the Waverider. She didn't let her hands drop, until the draw bridge started closing. When she did, she spotted the sand drop to the ground. Chronos wiped the dirt from his helmet, but it was too late. The Legends were already gone.


	5. You're not Legendary

Rip ran around in a hurry, trying to fix the wiring in the walls of the ship. He sighed, as the wires sparked rapidly.

"Professor Boardman has suffered severe internal injuries, and our cloaking shield and aft entrance have been significantly compromised, Captain," Gideon announced.

"Yes," Rip sighed again. "I can see that, Gideon. Prepare the med bay and station us in the Temporal Zone while I work on repairs, please."

Gideon went quiet, probably so she could do as she was asked. The team moved to their seats, as things finally calmed down. Rip gave the hawks directions to the med bay, and they lead the injured college professor down the hall. The ship slipped through a small opening, like it had before they'd left Star City, and soon the Waverider was surrounded by green waves again. Deserey looked out the window, astonished. It was as though they were suspended in mid air, just hovering there like a balloon. There was nothing to see for miles, except those green waves, drifting gently back and forth like the sea on the beach. She found it strangely soothing.

Ray glanced at Rip, as the captain hurried into the office connecting to the main room. (The bridge, apparently.) "Temporal Zone?" the Atom asked, moving next to Deserey to peer out the window too.

"Yeah," Rip said, hastily grabbing some tools. "It's essentially a time limbo. We can hide out here for a bit. Another temporal jump would risk revealing our position." He walked back over to the wall, where he'd removed one of the panels to work on the wiring. Rip slowly took out the tools, taking great care and caution, as he began fixing the damage. (He'd already fixed the window a few moments ago. It was an easier fix than Deserey would have thought. Apparently, Time Masters busted their windows a lot, because Rip had simply pressed a button on one of his many remotes and a brand new window popped out of the frame work.)

"A time limbo," Stein muttered, glancing out the window with a broad smile. "Astonishing."

"Oh, there's something you people don't know about time travel?" Rip said snootily. "That's surprising isn't it? Considering none of you have ever time traveled before?"

Deserey blanched, taken aback by his sudden attitude. She looked down, feeling guilty. She hadn't actually done anything wrong, she knew, but she wasn't exactly in the right head space to take getting yelled at. Besides, it was only a matter of time before she screwed something up, anyway. So, he might as well be yelling at her.

"Bringing a family member from the past, breaking out and carousing around the nineteen seventies. We've barely begun and already this is the worst, unmitigated disaster of my career."

Deserey shifted, blinking rapidly. She didn't want to look like a baby in room full of bad asses, but the captain's words were really getting to her. She had never been very good at handling yelling. It always made her feel small, insignificant. Worthless.

She was about to apologize, when she heard a loud _smack_!

Deserey's eyes widened, as her head snapped up. Kendra had just decked Rip in the nose, and she was towering over him, fists clenched at her sides. Her eyes were dangerous, like a wild fire. Carter walked in a moment later, coming to a stop next to Mick and Leonard. He didn't look like he had any intensions of stopping his soul mate's hostile mannerisms.

Mick laughed out loud. He leaned close to Carter, like he was going to tell him a secret. But when he spoke it was loud enough for everyone to hear. (It was the second time the arsonist had done that, which left Deserey wondering if personal space was an issue for all criminals or if it was just his way to make himself look more insane.) "I see why you've got the hots for that one."

Kendra gripped Rip's shirt, twisting the fabric in her fists, and slammed him into the wall. She glared at him, her eyes like daggers. "My son is hurt because of you!"

"Son?" Deserey asked. All her sorrow from before was replaced by confusion now, as she watched the scene unfold before her.

"Professor Boardman," Ray explained. "Apparently, he's Carter and Kendra's son from one of their previous lives."

"That's...interesting," Deserey said slowly.

Kendra ignored them. "Who attacked us?" she demanded, still glaring at Rip.

Rip sighed, like this was all a terrible inconvenience. It was almost like he didn't understand that Kendra was probably going to kick his ass. "It's something of a long story," he said.

"Better tell it fast, Rip. Doesn't look like the lady's in a patient mood," Leonard said. Though from the look in his eye Deserey could tell he was enjoying the show.

Carter stepped forward, an angry look in his eyes. He looked just as homicidal as his soul mate. "Neither am I," he hissed at the captain.

Rip hesitated a moment, reminding Deserey of the way her kids were squirm whenever she was trying to get them to tell her the truth about their failed math tests. She could tell he wanted to lie, but he just sighed again, relenting. "His name is Chronos. He works for the Council of Time Masters...my former employers."

Kendra let him go and stepped back, frowning in confusion. Deserey looked around at the others, her own frown of confusion on her face.

Sara scrunched up her face, as she stepped forward. "I thought you said you were a Time Master."

"As I've expressed, time's not a linear thing," Rip said. But Deserey could tell he was just searching for ways to justify his lies. "At some point, I was, in fact, a Time Master. But -"

Sara cut him off, raising her fist. She swung a punch, popping him in the mouth. Rip's head jerked back with the impact, but he quickly recovered.

"Will you people please stop hitting me?" Rip yelled.

"Start telling the truth!" Sara yelled back.

Rip threw his hands in the air, thoroughly flustered. "I relinquished my position as a Time Master, when I commandeered the Waverider," he admitted. "Chronos was clearly sent to bring me in."

"You lied to us," Stein said, sounding a little hurt. Deserey couldn't blame him. In fact, she felt the sharp sting of betrayal twisting in her own heart like a knife.

"Of course I lied to you," Rip said, his voice quiet. It almost sounded sincere, but Deserey figured he just didn't want to get decked again. "I needed your help. You all barely said yes as it was."

"What about the legends part?" Jax asked, folding his arms over his chest. He was scowling. Deserey guessed he must have been pissed that he'd been kidnapped for no reason.

Rip shifted awkwardly, fiddling with the sleeves of his trench coat. He didn't answer the question. He didn't even meet Jax's eyes.

"Ooh," Leonard said, a spark of realization in his eyes. "You lied about that too, didn't you?"

"...I chose you all, because, a hundred years from now, your lives have minimal affect on the time line," Rip said. "I needed your help without disturbing the history of twenty-one sixty six."

Deserey looked down again, as the knife in her heart was roughly removed, replaced by burning sand. She shouldn't have been surprised. She couldn't do anything for herself. Everything she touched went to shit, falling apart, breaking into a million pieces. She couldn't even do her own laundry without fucking it up. She couldn't keep her family together. She couldn't get her act together to save herself. So how the hell was she supposed to save anyone else? How was she supposed to be a legend? She was a useless nobody. That's all she'd ever be...

Next to her, Ray's face fell. She could tell he was having similar thoughts, and she felt guilty for her initial annoyance and biased opinions about him. Maybe he'd been through more than she'd thought. After all, no one really got a low self esteem for no reason, right? (That was, she supposed, just another reason why she was a terrible human being. She never bothered to get to know anyone, before judging them. She was no better than those jerks from her childhood home...)

"So...we're like the opposite of legends?" Jax scoffed.

"Yup," Deserey said, laughing bitterly. "Guess we all got our hopes up for nothing. Thanks for that, Rip. Thanks a lot." She shook her head, moving to sit in one of the chairs, placing her head in her hands.

Mick growled. "Give me one good reason why we shouldn't kill you." Deserey knew crooks probably didn't like being lied to any more than she did, but she couldn't help wondering why he even cared. He and Leonard were only there to rob everyone across time and space. So, what did all the lies matter to him?

"Ditto the arsonist," Stein said.

"Because Gideon won't listen to your commands, and you'll be stuck here forever," Rip said quickly.

Deserey rolled her eyes, standing up again. This guy had an answer for everything, didn't he?

"Great. So, we're not an elite team of heroes on a sanctioned mission, sent to rid the future of its most horrific bad guy," Ray said, sounding just as bitter as Deserey felt. "We're just a collection of nobodies who time really doesn't give a damn about."

"Yeah," Deserey nodded. "Pretty much. But hey, look on the bright side. We could always just go down as history's biggest losers."

Rip stepped forward, trying to meet everyone's eyes at once. Hurriedly, because he knew he was losing them, he said, "I didn't lie about the mission itself. Or the brutality and ruthlessness of Savage. Or," he added seriously, "my need for your help."

Deserey rolled her eyes. "That's not the point," she muttered. Everyone looked at her, surprised by how worked up she was getting about it. She ignored them and went on. "You made us think we were actually important. Then, you just sweep the rug out from under us practically screaming 'haha just kidding.' Do you have any idea what that's like? You can't just promise people the world and then not deliver! That's just..."

She trailed off with another shake of her head. She had wanted to say "cruel," but she worried that might sound too childish. So, she just let the sentence die. But the others were nodding slowly, understanding what she'd meant.

Rip looked at his shoes, guilt spreading across his face. He looked like a child caught with his hands in the cookie jar just before dinner. He sighed helplessly.

"I don't imagine you're the kind of guy who quits his job and takes on this kind of threat for altruistic reasons," Ray said after a moment. "So, Rip, why don't you tell us: what did Vandal Savage do to you?" He still sounded a little bitter.

Rip hesitated once more. Though, this struggle was different than a liar being caught in the act. This was something far more familiar and personal for Deserey. This was the kind of hesitation a person had, when they were being forced to talk about their inner demons. She'd had that same look many times. When she'd gone to therapy, when Darryl asked her how she was feeling, when her friends wondered what they could do to help...

"The Time Masters discourage marriage," Rip said finally. "They urge against procreation even more." He shuffled, moving his weight from foot to foot and shoving his hands deep into his pockets. A classic move to hide shaky hands. "A Time Master should be free of any personal entanglements that might compromise them. But..."

Rip looked around the room, glancing at anything but the team he'd put together. "I fell in love...and we had a child. A boy. Jonas."

Deserey knit her eyes together. "You told me you didn't have kids."

Rip tensed, almost like he thought she was going to hit him too. He didn't respond to her, though. The captain just stood there, in the center of the room, looking utterly broken.

Deserey felt her heart sink to the pit of her stomach, as the daunting realization hit her. Jax and Sara's eyes were down cast. The hawks exchanged looks, and Stein pushed his glasses up his nose awkwardly. Even the two criminals looked somber.

"Savage killed your family," Ray said quietly.

"He slaughtered my family," Rip said. His eyes snapped around, meeting Ray's gaze. "And thousand of other families." He removed his hands from his pockets, his voice rising a little as he got worked up again. "And the body that I swore an oath to serve turned a blind eye." He waved his hand to illustrate his point.

Rip walked to the center of the room, his face cold as stone now. "They continue to turn a blind eye. I won't." His voice lowered again. "The last thing that my child saw in this world was that monster's face. You can be damn well sure that when Savage dies, the last face he sees will be mine."

Deserey felt a lump form in her throat, making it hard to swallow. Her eyes welled up with tears, as her thoughts turned to her own kids. She could understand all the lies, now. (That didn't make them hurt any less, but at least she understood.) It was hard enough when they had decided to live with their father full time. Deserey couldn't imagine -- she didn't want to imagine -- losing them. Holding her daughter's dying body in her arms. Clutching to her son's lifeless form. It'd just be too unbearable.

The fact was, the day you became a parent is the same day you throw everything else out the window. Nothing else matters. Not your social life. Not your job. Not even your own basic needs. The only thing that matters is your kids. They're all you think about, day and night. You worry constantly, even though they're old enough to take care of themselves. Especially when they're old enough to take care of themselves, because you're afraid they're going to leave and forget all about you.

When they hurt, you hurt ten times more. Even if they think you don't understand what they're going through. When they're happy, you can't help smiling right along with them. You're reluctant to let them go, when they start dating. When they start wanting more space. Your probably even cling a bit too much.

But you can't help it. A parents' kids are, essentially, their whole world. Everything that defines a parent, everything that matters is kept within their child. A parents' kids, Deserey's kids, Rip's son, are the most important things in the entire world to them.

And when the most important thing in your life is taken away, it's only natural to fall apart, piece by piece.

"I understand, given the circumstances," Rip said quietly, "if you wish to return home. We can make the jump once the repairs are done, if and when Professor Boardman stabilizes."

Cater nodded curtly. Kendra walked out of the room without saying a word, and Hawkman followed her.

The others stood around, a dreary air about the room. Stein shifted, speaking on behalf of everyone. "I think we all need a little time to consider our options."

Rip nodded slowly. He watched, as the team exited the bridge, leaving through different door ways. Sighing, he moved back over to the wall, silently continuing the repairs.


	6. To Be or not to Be Take Two

Deserey sat in the cargo bay, watching Ray fiddle with the Atom suit and the criminals play with their weapons. Sara stood in the back corner, sharpening her knives. No one said anything; the room was filled with border line awkward silence, as everyone just continued mindlessly staring at the four walls.

The five only started to speak, when a blue beam shot from the arm of Ray's suit. The beam hit the wall, narrowly missing Mick, who was sitting on one of the random crates.

"Watch it!" the arsonist growled.

"Sorry!" Ray sighed. "Sorry..." He looked around, meeting everyone's eyes. After a moment, he said, "What's the point in us even giving it a second thought? Rip has already seen the future."

Deserey looked up from where she was sitting, glancing at the scientist, disinterested. She got the feeling this would be the first (and probably last) time she'd ever hear him say anything negative.

"He knows exactly what's in store for each of us," Ray muttered. "Might as well have stayed dead." Deserey guessed she wasn't supposed to hear that last part. She had no idea what he meant by that.

"Cause the world doesn't need any of us," Ray went on. He glanced at Sara for a moment. "You're just a lost assassin." He nodded at Heat Wave and Captain Cold. "You're just a pair of good for nothing criminals."

"I can live with that," Mick grunted.

"Well I can't," Ray said sadly. "I can't live with someone putting a cap on my destiny. I spent my whole life working to be something greater by becoming something smaller...Then, some guy comes along and tells me that being the Atom is as insignificant as an actual atom."

Deserey snorted, and all the attention fell on her. "At least you've actually done something with your life," she muttered bitterly. "Me? I haven't bothered to do anything. I can't do anything. I always screw it up somehow. I can't get my friends to stick around. My husband left me, because I can't even make myself feel happy around my family. I dropped out of college. I can't keep a job. Then, four years ago this...machine blows up and I get these powers, and I don't even know how to use them, because I haven't bothered to learn how."

She gestured around the room. "At least you all have the super hero thing...or -" she glanced at the crooks, "- villain in your case." Deserey shrugged hopelessly. "My ex husband told me to come here, to fix my issues...I should have known it wouldn't work. I'm useless now. I'm useless in the future...We're all just a bunch of useless nobodies."

Sara shook her head. She stood up, looking back and forth between Deserey and Ray. "That's not what he said," she said, referring to Rip. "He said in his future we're nobodies...but this mission is about changing the future." She shrugged. "I mean, we have the power to change the world, don't you think we have the power to change our own fate?"

"For better or for worse," Leonard added. Deserey still wasn't sure why either of the crooks cared, but they seemed to be listening to the assassins speech too.

"That's a very good point," Ray nodded. He seemed to be feeling a lot better about things now, but Deserey wasn't convinced yet.

"That speech is very uplifting and all," she said, "but how are a bunch of nobodies suppose to save the world? How are we going to change the future, when we obviously don't matter very much?"

Sara hesitated, unsure of how to answer her pessimistic ramblings. "We'll figure it out," she said after a moment. "Eventually. But we're not going to change anything by just sitting around in the cargo bay, whining to each other. If anything's going to happen, we're going to have to make it happen ourselves. This isn't some fairy tale land.

"There's no magical god parents to bippity poppity boo our blues away. Maybe we don't know how to change it right now, but we will. Because we might be losers today, but tomorrow we will be legends."

Deserey rolled her eyes. "Okay, Barbie, you made your point..."

Sara raised an eyebrow at her. "Barbie?" she questioned.

Deserey nodded. "Yeah. You know, because you've got the blonde hair and the blue eyes and fair skin..."

Sara snorted. "Well, I'll have you know that I decapitated all of my Barbies when I was a kid."

Deserey laughed. For a moment she allowed herself to think that they might become good friends. That they could really be part of this...team. And maybe, just maybe, things would actually get better.

Ray jumped up, gasping like a kid who just spotted a new toy they so desperately wanted. "You need a code name! And a suit!" he added excitedly.

"Sorry?" Deserey stared at him, taken aback.

Sara nodded slowly, like she was coming to the same conclusion. "Oh yeah. He's right," she said. "Everyone else has one."

"Well," Deserey shrugged. "I wouldn't want to feel left out." She glanced around, as the others came into the room too. "Well, who named all of you?"

"Cisco Ramon," most of the team chorused. Deserey wasn't sure how the hawks, Professor, or Jax knew what she was talking about. She guessed they must have heard her and the others talking from down the hall.

Deserey nodded. "Can I have him give me a codename then?"

"I'm sure he'd be willing to, but I'm not sure you can convince Rip to go back to twenty-sixteen unless we're staying there," Jax shrugged. He looked a lot less grumpy. Like all of a sudden he actually wanted to be here. Something must have happened during that fight with Chronos to change his mind. Deserey guessed it must have had something to do with the team.

Jax had an athletic build; he was obviously a sporty guy. Naturally, he enjoyed being on a team, so it wasn't really all that surprising that he'd come around. (Not that Deserey could blame him. It was sort of nice to know that there was someone out there watching your back, even if you had just met them the night before.)

"Well, it's the least he could do, after he lied to us," Deserey reasoned.

"And if he doesn't, Kendra and I can just hit him again," Sara nodded.

"Do it," Leonard said. Kendra rolled her eyes. So, the thief felt it necessary to keep pushing the idea. "Do it. Do it. Do it."

"Alright," Sara huffed. "Don't make me hit you too!"

"You can't. I have a body guard," Leonard said, gesturing at his partner in crime.

Sara glanced at the arsonist, unimpressed. "I can take him."

"Sure you can."

The two eyed each other, squinting. Deserey couldn't tell if they were challenging one another or if it was some strange crook/assassin flirty thing, but apparently Mick thought the latter, because he said,

"Do you two need the room or are you planning on screwing in front of the rest of us?"

Deserey and Kendra burst into laugher; Jax and Carter smirked. Ray and the Professor spluttered awkwardly, shocked. (Though Deserey wasn't sure why. Mick was obviously a very blunt guy.)

Sara glared at the arsonist and rolled her eyes. "No one's screwing anyone. Now, let's go find our captain."

The team walked back into the bridge to hear Rip chatting with Gideon. He was still working on the wiring in the walls of the ship; it didn't look as though he had moved since the last time they'd been in the room.

A spark jumped out at the captain, and he had to take a step back for a moment. Rip sighed. "What do you think Gideon?"

"I calculate a less than six percent likelihood that they decide to go on with the mission," the AI responded.

Sara smirked at Deserey, as they stood in the doorway. "There. See? We're already beating the odds."

"I meant about the repairs..." Rip grumbled. He clearly hadn't noticed his team standing back and watching him yet.

"And," Gideon added. "There has been another unfortunate consequence of Chronos's attack. Care to hear about it?"

Rip sighed again. "Not really..."

Kendra looked down at her shoes. Carter put his hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her. She stepped into the room, speaking to Rip. "He's gone."

The captain turned, finally noticing the team had returned. He frowned at Kendra's words, confused for a moment.

"Our son," Hawkgirl clarified. "Or... Our son from our previous life...It's all too confusing..."

Carter nodded in agreement with her, but he didn't say anything. Not just yet. Rip stepped away from the wall, cautiously moving towards them.

"I'm very sorry," he said, and he sounded like he meant it.

Kendra shrugged. "Actually," she said. "You don't get the blame for this. This was my fault. If I hadn't insisted on bringing him back here, he might have died peacefully, in his sleep maybe."

"Don't torture yourself with recriminations," Rip told her. "One of the greatest lessons of time travel is that many things cannot be changed. Time wants to happen. Chronos, even Vandal, won't be the only enemy we face. Very often it will be time itself."

Deserey folded her arms over her chest, as she stepped into the room. "Well, time can kiss my ass."

Ray nodded. He moved the the console at the center of the room and spoke, putting her words in a much less crude manner. "Whether it wants to happen or not, we're gonna change time, erase Savage's future, and earn our rightful place in history."

The rest of the team followed Ray into the room, gathering around like the bridge, as though they had already done it a million times.

"Dr. Palmer is correct," Stein said. "We may not be legends in your time, captain, but we are going to decide our own fates."

Rip nodded, looking relieved to hear these words. Carter stepped forward next, putting his two sense in.

"I don't give a damn about being a legend," he said, "as long as we end Savage once and for all."

"I can get down with that," Jax said.

"And our malcontents?" Stein asked, looking at Leonard and Mick.

The arsonist shrugged. "I like killing people."

"We're in," Leonard said. "For now."

Sara raised an eye brow. "Is that you actually being in or you saying your in so you can rob people through out the time line?"

"Why can't it be both?" Leonard wondered.

The assassin rolled her eyes. She turned back to Rip. "So, how do we find this guy?"

Rip moved over to the captain's chair. "Professor Boardman had a theory about that," he said. "I've already had Gideon plot a course."

Deserey shook her head. "No you haven't. We have to go home first."

Rip made a face. "Why is that?"

"Dez, needs a suit and codename," Ray said.

Rip blinked. He looked around the room, as if questioning whether or not the two were joking. Deserey glanced at Ray for a moment, before turning back to the captain. It was the second time he'd called her that since they started this thing. Usually she only let her friends call her that, but she didn't bother to correct him. (Besides, if you couldn't be friends with your team, who could you be friends with?)

"And we've all already decided on this," Sara added. "So, don't try to fight us about it."

"...Fine," Rip sighed. "But make it quick." He told Gideon to reroute back to twenty-sixteen, and everyone strapped in, smiling to themselves. Deserey felt giddy for the first time in a long time. She was ready to take on the world, and she knew these people would stand by her the whole way. And in that moment, she didn't care about the past. She didn't care about the future. She was completely, utterly in the present. And it was okay.


	7. Codenames, Goofs, and Kinks Oh My!

Leonard opened the door to Star Labs, allowing Deserey to step inside the building. Sara made a face as she followed Dez in to the building.

"We can just walk in?" the assassin asked.

Mick nodded, looking annoyed. "Their security sucks."

"Makes breaking in easier, but sucks all the fun out of it," Leonard agreed.

"Oh, come on!" Barry was saying. "I'm sorry that I don't buy that shit that Jay's selling!"

"Barry, you can't just give up on everyone because someone wrong you. You have to give them another chance."

Was that Joe's voice? Ooh, this was gonna be good. Len couldn't help but smirk as he walked in.

"Why, hello, Detective West," he grinned. Barry stared at him, open mouthed with shock, while Cisco and Caitlin just looked glad there was some sort of entertainment besides the apparent argument.

Deserey looked around. Clearly, there was some kind of tension between everyone in the room. She guessed they must have had quite the history. Either that or this "Jay" character was a big deal.

"Are we interrupting something?" Deserey asked.

"Yes," Barry said.

"No," the other strangers said.

"Well, we have a request for the dear engineer," Leonard said, moving past the other Legends. "See, our little friend here, Dede, needs a nickname."

Deserey scowled at the nickname, but glanced up at the guy who looked up.

"Dede, show him your powers so he can work his magic."

Deserey considered not doing it just to prove a point, but she wasn't that petty. Besides, she really wanted a nickname!

So, she opened up her pouch and threw a little sand into the air before moving it around with her fingers. The engineer person gasped in surprise. When she looked over at his face, she could see the pure joy that radiated off him.

"It's like a little sandstorm," he muttered to himself. Then he snapped his fingers. "Sandstorm! Perfect!"

"Hashtag nicknamed," the unknown female muttered. Her long, brown hair was behind the back of her scientist's coat. Deserey wondered if that was the doctor.

The engineer bowed, like he was a performer on stage. "You are welcome."

Then Deserey realized she still didn't know anyone's name. "Yeah...so I'm guessing he's Cisco," she nodded at the engineer. "But who are the rest of you? And what do you even do here?"

"Reminds me of that first day, right, Cisco?" the tall guy said. She assumed it was Barry from his argument with the other, older man in the corner, who was still scowling at him.

"Oh, yeah! You asked me what I do, and I was like, 'I make the toys'!" Cisco said with a giant grin.

"I never realized how much CC looked like Michael," Cisco muttered. Leonard raised his eyebrows. "CC?"

"Well, Captain Cold," Cisco said, looking down.

"Oh, and I used to be an actor," Leonard said with a smirk. This time, Cisco wasn't the only one who needed to pick up his jaw.

"Jeez. I'm kidding," Leonard laughed. It was like watching a movie as everyone's shocked expressions turned sour.

"Wait! And Mick looks like Lincoln!" Cisco said.

"Not to mention that we break out of prison on a regular basis," Leonard pointed out. Mick shrugged, going back to his sandwich which had somehow just... appeared. Deserey was starting to wonder if his metahuman power was making random food appear wherever he wanted.

"Oh, you mean like that show called Prison Break," Sara said, nodding, looking at the two crooks. "Yeah, I can see that."

Rip looked back and forth between everyone, confused. "What the hell are you all talking about?"

Jax shrugged. "It's before your time, man."

"Not to mention Lenny here's got the hots for Sara," Dersery added, ignoring Rip's ignorance.

Leonard glared at her, but Mick let out a belly laugh. Soon, everyone joined in except for Leonard and Sara, who just pouted.

"See? They even pout together!" someone called, but she was so drunk off the feeling of laughter she couldn't tell you who said it.

"Just so you know, I can kill you all with my index finger!" Sara huffed.

"And I could kill you faster than you can blink," Barry replied with a smirk. "But I wouldn't. I would put you in the pipeline, though. Put the little assassin in a well earned timeout." Deserey had a feeling there was some sort of reference there, but she didn't waste time trying to figure it out.

Sara actually pulled out a knife from... actually, Deserey didn't want to know. Everyone jumped back, yelling, "Whoa!" except Mick, who just let out another belly laugh. "You won't hurt your groom's best friend."

"I would," she insisted.

"Who's the brunette?" Deserey asked, trying to steer the conversation away from murder.

"My name is Caitlin," she said, her eyes on the ground. For some reason, she seemed shy. Deserey had a feeling she and Caitlin would get along perfectly.

"I'm Deserey," she introduced herself to the S.T.A.R. Labs gang. That is, if the building's logo was any giveaway.

Everyone else went around quickly, telling her their names - Barry, Joe, Cisco, Harry, and Wally, who was apparently Joe's son.

Then, right as they were finishing with Harry, a woman who looked extremely similar to Joe barged in, looking extremely annoyed.

"Could someone please explain to me why --"

She cut herself off at the sight of the pair of criminals who were relaxing in one of the chairs behind the desk, a beer in hand for each (seriously, though. Where did Mick get them?).

"Snart and Rory are in the cortex?" the woman said, changing her sentence. Deserey snickered quietly to herself as both criminals glanced up at her, one wearing an expression of pure boredom and the other with a look of calculating.

"And who are they?" the woman asked, gesturing at the Legends. (Well, mostly Deserey and Rip. She seemed to at least vaguely recognize everyone else.)

"Hey, Iris," Barry waved. "These are the Legends, and Deserey needed Cisco to give her a hero name. She's a meta human." He gestured at Dez.

"Oh," the woman, Iris, said slowly. She awkwardly moved to the center of the room with the rest of the Star Labs gang.

"Who told?" Sara asked, wondering how Barry knew about the whole Legends thing.

"Felicity," the Star Labs gang said simultaneously.

"So does she...know?" Iris asked, pointing at Deserey.

Everyone shook their heads, and Deserey got the feeling she was being left out of something. Even Rip seemed to understand what they were talking about.

Honestly, it hurt more than it should've. It reminded her of being a child, of being left out alone on the playground as others shared jokes around her she was too young to understand. She could practically see her breaking point in front of her, and she knew it wouldn't be too long before she snapped.

"Know what?" she asked calmly, and everyone seemed to notice the deadly calm. Sara nodded approvingly, but Deserey was too pissed to care.

Futurama had not prepared her for this.

Barry shrugged, apparently not noticing the look on her face or the tone of her voice. "Well..." He turned helplessly toward his friends, but they didn't say anything. "Um..."

"I may not be some assassin, but if you don't answer my goddamn question, I will send your ass through more time then he's been through." She gestured toward Rip. "Got that?"

Barry must have been pretty intimidated, because he nodded. "Okay. Well..." He sped forward, lightening flickering off his arms and legs as he went. Deserey barely saw him move. When she blinked, he wasn't wearing normal clothes any more. He was wearing the red suit of the Flash, cowl down, revealing his face. Except Deserey didn't realize this...

"Cool. You have speed powers," Deserey said with a raised eyebrow, her anger long gone. "Why's that a big deal? Mine are just with sand instead of speed and you have a costume."

Everyone around stared at her in surprise. Iris shrugged, looking content, like she was happy Dez wasn't getting whatever the heck everyone was trying to get at.

Deserey was sure she was missing something, but at this point, she couldn't care less.

"...Anyway, you've got your name," Rip said, butting in. "We should be on our way."

"But this is the last time I'll be able to have Jitters for God knows how long!" Deserey complained. Soon, the others were joining in with their own favorite restaurants, such as Big Belly Burger.

"Gideon can simulate food," Rip told them.

"Gideon?" Barry asked, like he recognized the name. But before he and Rip could talk more about it, the assassin interrupted.

"I wanna say bye to Ollie," Sara said. Everyone turned toward her on that one, some looking surprised and others looking annoyed. Deserey was the only one who didn't know who this "Ollie" was, and honestly didn't care. But she did appreciate it when Ray stepped back and whispered, "Queen," in her ear.

After that, Deserey recognized Sara from the news. Why did she want to see the guy who had cheated on her sister?

Granted, Sara had helped, too, but still.

"We are not going to Star City just to see the Green Arrow," Rip sighed.

Deserey gasped.

"You know the Green Arrow!?!?" she shouted in glee. Everyone turned toward her, and she felt a blush form on her cheeks. It wasn't her fault the hottest man alive was also rich and apparently a superhero.

"So, she gets him," Barry pouted. But Deserey didn't really understand what he meant, so she ignored him.

"I know," Iris whispered in her ear. "Oh, trust me, I know."

Caitlin sent her a thumbs up from her corner. Deserey was quickly realizing who the wallflowers were (Caitlin, Joe, Wally) and who weren't (Barry, Iris, Harry, Cisco).

Sara nodded. "I got to bang him, too."

Deserey swore under her breath. Hot people were attracted to each other, weren't they?

"...What is happening," Rip muttered to himself. "Look, we have to go! Vandal Savage must be stopped!"

"Well, sorry that we actually have a life," Jax muttered. Rip pretended not to hear him, instead choosing to turn to Carter and Kendra hoping they'd help him out.

"Guys, c'mon," Carter said in Rip's defense. Kendra was too busy staring off into space to help. She hadn't slept much last night. Carter would know... he was in the same room. And it wasn't like he had slept, either.

The other Legends turned to face them, noticing their serious looks among all the silliness. "Fine," Sara sighed. "If you guys wanna be all work and no play. Let's get back to the ship."

She glanced at the S.T.A.R. Labs gang. "We have a time ship."

Barry cocked his head. "Excuse me?"

"Anyway," Rip said, trying to rush them out. "Let's get going."

Sara nodded at Cisco curtly. "By the way thanks for the White Canary suit."

"Yup," Cisco nodded back. He looked at Deserey. "I can make you one too, but it'll take some time..."

"Cool," Deserey grinned.

"I don't think he's gonna be walking out of here," Ray laughed, pointing at CC, who was smirking at them all. Except, something about it was a little different.

He tried to stand, but almost fell. Instead of grumbling, though, he just laughed. It was so unlike him. Deserey was actually worried.

"Someone should help him," Carter said. When everyone looked at him, he shook his head. "I said someone, not me."

"I will!" It was both Sara and Barry who spoke. They gave each other looks, and Mick just let out a loud laugh.

Deserey wanted to join in, but she also didn't want a knife to the face, so she stayed quiet.

Eventually, after Rip letting out quite a few more sighs, Mick having a couple beers that he just pulled out of his pockets, Jax and Cisco chatting about some machine, Caitlin pulling Kendra and Carter away to check for injuries, both mentally and physically, the West family and Barry going home, and Ray just being his wallflower self, Sara ended up winning the "fierce" battle of carrying Leonard, and by then, the guy was sober as usual. Though Deserey was pretty sure he hadn't been drunk in the first place.

The thought made her laugh, which drew the attention to her. She blushed. But Leonard smirked at her as if he knew exactly what she was thinking and that she was right.

Much to Rip's relief, the team moved back on to the Waverider to prepare for their next mission.

Deserey was annoyed and exhausted, so she retired to her room, the rest of her day already planned out. Family Guy, maybe color a little. For some reason, people said she was good at it. Honestly, she thought they were just bullshitting her. The lines were always crooked, she thought. None of her paintings ever turned out quite right. That's why, for so long, she had just given up on her art...but now, she was thinking she might get back into it. She was so out of practice though...

But it wasn't like there was a lot to do on a timeship, so there she was - sketchpad and pencil in front of her. What was she even going to draw? She shrugged setting the pad aside and trading it for the IPad she was using earlier to watch her favorite show.

She soon learned she wasn't the only person who watched Family Guy, though, when the pair of criminals, the couple, and even the assassin came in to join her. Soon, it was everyone except Rip, who was being a stubborn pain in the ass and didn't deserve family time. Deserey may or may not have laughed at the pun, but it was true. Sure, it had only been about two days, but these people wouldn't leave her. She just knew.

Then, it hit her. Her muse. This is what she would paint. Her team, her...family.

Before she could, though, she heard a loud chant of, "Supernatural!" go up, and decided to change from Hulu to Netflix. She didn't mind Supernatural, but she still tuned them out in favor of drawing Barry's speed, and Rip's impatient smile, and Daren's evil grin when he was about to tickle her, and Anita's beautiful smile...

She sketched, drawing the lines as good as she could, being as rusty as she was. She spent the next three hours, hunched over the sketch book, twisting her wrist and flicking her fingers to get rid of the erasers leftovers. She only looked up when she heard Ray's cheer voice comment on her work. "Whoa, that's cool!"

The team was standing over her, peering at the pad, as she worked on her latest sketch -- a college of the team scattered all throughout the page.

"...It's not that good," Deserey shrugged, honestly not sure what they were all so stunned for. This may have been one of her best pieces, but that didn't mean it was good.

"What do you mean 'not that good'?" Sara scoffed, snatching the sketch pad from her to get a closer look. "This is amazing!"

"Yeah, right," Deserey scoffed right back, stealing her sketch pad away from the thief. "I wish."

That's when the actual thief snatched it away, preventing arguments between the two and looked at it himself.

"What in the hell do you mean 'it's not that good'?" Leonard snarled. "I'm a thief, so when I say it's good, it's good."

With that, he handed her sketch back to her and walked away, heading back to watch another Supernatural episode.

Sara gestured at him, like he had just proved her point. But still Deserey wasn't very convinced. "I drew your face all lopsided!" she protested.

"Better than I could," Kendra muttered.

Sara nodded. "The only thing I can do with my hands is swing a sword around...Well," she added thoughtfully. "Maybe not." She got a small smirk on her face.

"I'm sure there are plenty of things you could do with those hands," Kendra whispered in her ear, but Deserey heard it and made a face.

"Buddy, I may be part lesbian, but I don't need to hear that shit."

Kendra blushed; Sara's smirk grew as she leaned toward Deserey's ear, and everyone else besides Rip, who was chatting with Gideon, and the criminals, who were on the couch, had a confused look on their face.

"Glad to know you're available," she whispered.

"Ooh. Kinky," Deserey winked back.

Sara sighed, annoyed that her advances hadn't worked, while Kendra laughed. It was beautiful, like bells.

And... why was Deserey noticing this again?

She shook her head. Damn Sara for planting those images in her head. And... they would probably show up in her drawings later. What could she say? She had a smutty fanfic side to her. What artist didn't?

Later that night, Deserey stayed up late drawing Kendra, Carter, Sara, Leonard, Mick, and herself tangled up. Ray seemed too innocent and Rip was a jackass, so they weren't invited. Neither was Stein, because he was super old. And Deserey thought he was a nice guy and all, but she didn't really have a daddy kink. Jax couldn't because although he was easily the hottest on the ship, he had a direct memory thing with Stein.

It was probably the kinkiest thing she had ever drawn. Needless to say she wasn't going to share it with the others. It would be her guilty pleasure.

And it would keep her up for a little while...


	8. Norway

The Waverider touched down in the center of a large parking lot. The sky was grey and dreary, like even it could tell Norway was about to have a really bad day. In retrospect, perhaps things would have gone down a lot better, if some of the sillier Legends had stayed on board. At least then, maybe they wouldn't have doomed the future even more than it already was.

The day started out pretty okay, with everyone still buzzing from their excitement back at S.T.A.R. Labs. It was a complete turn around from the mood everyone had been in just a few hours ago. Almost like their little angst trip never even happened.

"I still can't believe you didn't realize Barry was the Flash," Jax was saying, "even after he put the costume on."

Deserey shrugged. "What can I say? I don't really watch the news much."

"Yeah, but still --"

"I can't believe that I never noticed those two," Sara jabbed her finger at Leonard and Mick, "look exactly like famous actors."

Kendra shook her head, smiling lightly. "That's got to be confusing as hell for the police."

Rip sighed, as the ship landed in near the parking lot. "And we've arrived," he said, sounding relieved. "Gideon, if you wouldn't mind camouflaging us as an alpine meadow, perhaps?"

Everyone slowly stood up, once again feeling the side effects of time travel. Dez felt her stomach doing back flips inside her body, and for a moment she thought she might throw up. (Thankfully she didn't.) She spotted Sara and Leonard stumbling slightly; they leaned on each other for support. (She'd have to tease them about it later.)

"Where exactly are we?" Carter asked, glancing out the window.

"It's nineteen-seventy five again, right?" Kendra asked.

"Indeed," Rip nodded. "October nineteen-seventy five on the fjords of northern Norway." He headed towards the back of the room. The rest of the team followed, as soon as the side effects wore off.

"Sounds like a vacation," Leonard commented.

"Which," Rip said, "we can take as soon as the threat of Savage has been neutralized, Mr. Snart." The captain walked into his office, picking up a small, leather book, before turning around and stepping back into the bridge.

"That's Aldus's notebook," Carter realized. It took Deserey a moment to remember that Aldus was his son from his previous life. (He was also the rotting corpse that was still in the med bay for some reason. She knew that thought sounded harsh, and she felt bad about it...but still. Shouldn't they have gotten rid of it by now?)

"He theorized that Savage might be here, and if he's right, and if we can capture Savage, then at least Professor Boardman didn't die in vain," Rip said, looking at the hawks seriously.

Kendra looked at Rip, her eyes lighting up as an idea undoubtedly came to her. "Can't we just go back and save Aldus?"

"He was our son," Carter pointed out.

Inside her rib cage, a chain tugged at Deserey's heart, trying to force it to sink in the never ending sea of despair. She really felt for those two. There was something especially tragic about being reconnected with a lost family member, only to lose them again five seconds later. (Even if it was a little awkward that their son was several years older than them.)

"Look, I'm sorry," Rip sighed. "We can't go back and change events in which we participated. Time would fold in on itself, creating a temporal vortex."

"Which sounds way cooler than it is," Ray nodded.

"Then, next thing you know you have dinosaurs and Roman warriors wandering aimlessly around California," Rip rambled.

Mick scoffed. "I hate romans."

Deserey looked at him, curious. "Why?"

"Something about that Caesar guy really pisses me off," the arsonist growled.

She shrugged. "Can't argue with logic like that."

Rip rolled his eyes at the two. Sara leaned on the console, looking incredibly bored. (Though, Deserey suspected she was really just a bit dizzy, still. Either from her seemingly random attraction to the thief or from the time jump. Dez wasn't sure.)

"Forgetting physics and weird grudges for a second," the assassin said, "shouldn't we figure out what Savage is doing in Norway?"

Rip nodded, looking at her, thankful to be back on track. "According to Gideon, there is a large meeting of terrorists and fringe groups looking to buy illegal arms." He gestured at the console, where the blue screen lit up. Deserey frowned, as the details of the meeting were written on the monitor.

"Now that sounds like a vacation," Mick said.

Leonard shrugged. "Arms dealers and terrorists aren't exactly our kind of people, but they're the next best thing." He gave Mick an odd look, but Deserey couldn't tell exactly what it was, but it was somewhere between 'what the hell, dude?' and 'we could sneak in and kick their asses.' (There was also a glance at the assassin that may or may not have been a flirtatious smirk, but Deserey figured that wasn't any of her business.)

"Well, looks like you and your lap dog get to earn your keep," Carter muttered.

Mick glared at him. "I'm no one's lap dog, bird man."

"We should get a dog though," Deserey muttered. "It could be our little legendary mascot."

Sara raised her hand. "I vote yes!"

Jax nodded. "It'd be kind of nice to have a furry companion with us. And the dog could guard the ship, when we're out and Chronos tries to attack again."

"Yeah," Ray said. "Except I'm allergic to dogs...and cats...and almost anything with fur..."

Dez frowned for a second, before grinning again. "How about a lizard, then? But it has to be a boy, so we can call him Mohinder."

"Why Mohinder?" Kendra asked.

Deserey shrugged. "I got it from some show my daughter watches."

Rip shook his head. "No! No pets. Because I already know none of you will take care of it, and I'll get stuck with it."

"Please!" Sara begged.

"No!" the captain said firmly.

Deserey laughed to herself. She hadn't meant to get everyone off track again, but it was uncanny how child like the team really was. And how dad like Rip was. It was like they were his kids. He was their dad. He was a Time Dad.

Kendra laughed as well, before getting serious again. "We'll talk about this pet thing later, but what exactly does one wear to a black market arms bazaar, anyway?"

Rip turned back to the office. "The Waverider has a fabrication room, which can fashion temporally-indigenous, uh, fashion."

Jax made a face. "You've got a room that makes clothing?"

Rip looked at him, frowning with confusion. "Doesn't everyone?"

"Nope," Deserey said. "But luckily you do, because none of us brought bags."

The team shrugged, before heading out into the halls. They waited for a moment, as Rip stepped in front of them in order to lead them to the fabrication room. It wasn't really a long walk. In fact, it was just down the hall and to the left.

The room was small, maybe ten by twelve. Along the walls, machines were lined up, glowing with a faint, white glow. There were benches sitting at the center of the room, and little cubbies. Deserey guessed they'd retrieve the clothes from there, once they had been fabricated.

"Alright, first thing we need to do is work up a plan," Ray said giddily.

Leonard shot him an annoyed look. "Got a lot of experience infiltrating criminal gatherings? Didn't think so. I'm calling the shots."

"Actually I'm in charge, in case any of you have forgotten," Rip interjected.

"No," Leonard said. "I remember. I just don't care."

"Ouch," Sara snickered.

Rip rolled his eyes, looking very annoyed. It was the look of a father, getting very aggravated with his very stubborn children. "Do I need to remind any of you that I'm a Time Master?" he asked with a huff. "Making discrete alterations to the timeline is what I do! So, we're not just going to charge into the past like a bull into a China sho --"

"Half of what you told us about the mission turned out to be lies," Mick pointed out, cutting him off.

"None of you have ever encountered Vandal Savage before," Rip went on. He paused for a moment, as he realized that wasn't quite right. Glancing at the hawks he quickly added, "Except you two, of course. And I have. And I'm telling you now," the captain went on, turning back to the others, "you are making a big mistake!"

"...We already did that when we trusted you," Ray muttered.

"Double ouch." Deserey winced with sympathy for their captain. She was still a little pissed at him, too, but she didn't think it was necessary to be giving the poor guy such a hard time.

"We'll be back soon, Captain," Mick said, slamming the door in Rip's face. (Well, actually it was more like sliding them in his face, considering they were bulk head doors, rather than swinging ones.)

It probably took them longer than necessary to get ready. For one thing, Sara kept changing her clothes, insisting that none of the outfits Gideon provided was good enough for her. She switched her clothes at least ten times, practically begging Deserey to keep calling her Barbie. (She had finally settled on a skin tight shirt, a pair of army pants, and a bandanna wrapped around her forehead.) For two, there was only one bathroom, so everyone had to go in one at a time to change.

Another set back happened, when Leonard insisted that they repeat his plan back to him twenty times before they actually went anywhere. (He had said something about it being so they could memorize it, but Deserey suspected he was just being a dick.)

The thief wasn't happy until everyone could recite the plan he'd given them word for word. (Jax and the hawks would wait on the roof of the building, and Ray would shrink down and sit in the Professor's pocket, in case anything went south. The rest of them went to the auction, where they would kidnap Savage and bring him back to the ship, where they would eventually murder him. Very cheery.) Mick rolled his eyes at Leonard, looking a little annoyed at his partner's antics. So, Dez got the feeling he did this sort of thing a lot.

The last delay occurred, when Deserey went to talk with Rip, before leaving with the others. She found him, sitting in his office, sulking because no one would listen to him. He wasn't going with them on this mission, partly because Leonard wouldn't allow him to, partly because he was being a big baby. Still, Dez had something she needed to say, and she wanted to say it, before she forgot.

She leaned against the door frame, eyeing the captain seriously, hands on her hips. (She hoped it didn't make her look too much like a mother about to give her kid lecture.)

"I get why you lied," Deserey told Rip. "I know it can't have been easy...watching them die."

He looked up at her, opening his mouth to say something, but she held her hand up.

"Let me finish," she said. "I know why you did what you did, but you need to know something too."

He sat back in his chair, nodding slowly, allowing her to continue. Deserey stood up right, sighing. "I'm not in the right head space for mind games, and if you did your research on all of us, then I think you already knew that. And you lying to me? That doesn't really make my issues any easier to deal with. In fact, it makes them even harder to deal with.

"You gave me hope that someday...someday I won't be so screwed up. That maybe I might not be this piece of...crap. That maybe I could eventually be this person my family deserves...only to have you tell me it was just false hope. And now I'm spinning in circles all over again, and I can't get my feet back on the ground."

Rip ran his hand along his face, sighing heavily. He stood up, looking at her with the same genuine look he had given the hawks earlier. "I'm sorry," he said. "Truly. I never meant to hurt you. Any of you. I was just...blinded by my own issues. I hadn't even really stopped to consider...what with the way I found you and all..."

Deserey shoved her hands in her pockets, glancing at the ground. It was the first time either of them had mentioned her suicide attempt on the night Rip had gathered the team. She looked back up at him. "These are good people. They want to help. We want to help, even if you lied. We want to change our own futures as well as yours. So, we're going to stick around, I think.

"But please...no more lies. We can't trust you, if you don't trust us." She shrugged. "And who knows? Maybe this little crusade will be good for all of us in some way or another. If nothing else, we can milk our wounds together. Heal."

Rip nodded slowly. "That sounds nice, actually," he said quietly.

She smiled lightly. He smiled back, before shifting awkwardly.

"Well, I suppose you have a mission to get to," he said.

"Right." She turned to go, but when she reached the door way, she turned back to face him again, frowning. "One more thing."

He glanced at her. "Hm?"

"Chronos," she said. "That was weird, right? I mean, the ship was cloaked, but somehow he was able to shoot directly at it."

Rip shrugged. "Time Hunters are highly trained individuals. The Time Masters must have given him an educated guess on the whereabouts of the Waverider."

"I'm not so sure this was just an educated guess..." Deserey muttered. "It was accurate. Scary accurate. Almost like he'd been there before."

Rip chuckled lightly. "I think you have seen one too many scifi fantasy shows, Miss Dunet."

Eventually, they waltzed off the ship, happily decked out in the weird seventies clothing, ready to make believe they were terrorist...which probably didn't sound very good out of context.

The kidnapper team walked along the side of the building, Leonard at the front. Jax and the hawks were already in position. Deserey glanced around, hoping she was fitting in well enough. Everyone there seemed to have a permanent scowl embedded onto their faces. They were war torn, insane, and all around bad people. They were, after all, terrorists.

Deserey looked at her team, frowning, as she wasn't the only one who needed to blend in better. They really stuck out. Sure, they had the right clothes, but they didn't look tough enough to be apart of this. They didn't look brutal enough. (Well, maybe Mick did, but even he looked a little soft compared to these people. And sure Sara was an assassin, but somehow Deserey doubted she killed people for the fun of it.) No one else really looked all that worried though.

The team passed a group of people, all wearing similar IDs around their necks. Sara sighed, as she spotted the arm guards standing at the buildings entrance.

"Look like they're checking credentials...And we don't have any."

Mick didn't look very worried about it though. He shrugged the concerns away. "We got this. Trust us." The arsonist gave a curt nod to Leonard, and the ice villain casually walked off.

He bumped into a man, plucking the guy's credentials from his pocket as he did so. "Excuse you," the thief grunted. The man glared at him, but he kept walking, apparently not even realizing that his ID was missing.

Deserey snorted. "Smooth."

"It's the first thing they teach you in thief school," Leonard said.

She squinted at him. "Liar. There's no place like that."

"How would you know?" he smirked, heading towards the door.

When the man in the blue suit asked for an ID, Deserey was sort of reminded of her high school principal. He was a huge guy, always roaming the halls and demanding to see your school ID. You couldn't do anything or go anywhere without one. (Unless of course you wanted a three hour detention.)

Leonard passed the little orange card to the man and stood back, looking ever so calm. Deserey shifted, hands in her pockets to keep the bitter cold from biting them. She wondered how he could act so cool and collected, even when the man in the blue suit started eyeing him skeptically.

"You don't look like an Amhad Ahmed Izz-Al-Din," the man said.

"I'm Arab," Len said with such confidence, Deserey thought it must be true, "on my mother's side."

The man in the blue suit still looked skeptical, though. He looked like he was about to question Leonard further, but before he could, Stein marched forward, an angry scowl on his face.

"Is there a problem?" the professor snapped. "I don't like delays. Do you know who we are?" He sounded like a spoiled child, demanding a toy, but Deserey figured he knew what he was doing, because the man in the blue suit looked taken aback. "My associates and I are the operation of Scimitar," Stein went on. "The Lombardo Square boomerang, nineteen-sixty three. Murder of Henri Tyran, Canada, nineteen-seventy. Konig Airport Massacre, nineteen-seventy one."

Deserey had no idea what he was talking about, and from the glance Sara and Mick gave each other, neither did anyone else. But the man in the blue suit looked pretty intimidated, and Stein looked pretty confidant in his long winded nonsense, so she went with it.

"Bottom line?" Stein finished. "You don't want to doubt me."

The man in the blue suit stepped aside, allowing the team to pass. Leonard plucked the card away from him as they passed by. Mick laughed, leaning close to the professor and invading his personal space again. "You're a special kind of crazy. I like it."

Stein didn't respond, though. Instead, he followed the others into the building. It was a large hanger, sort of like an abandoned warehouse. Except there weren't any conveyor belts. Instead, nuclear weapons were randomly scattered around the building. Every square inch of the place was filled with bad guys, making Dez a little uneasy.

Some if them wore hijabs and turbans, completely living up to the negative stereotypes. Others wore fresh out of the dry cleaner suits and ties. (Except the dry cleaners hadn't been invented yet...) There was a lot of chatter, and Deserey could barely hear Leonard speaking into the coms, even though he was right next to her.

"We're in," Len told Jax and the hawks.

"So," Dez could hear Jax's voice in her ear, "why don't I get to play terrorist?"

"This is just a kidnapping," Leonard told him. "No need for your nuclear fireworks."

The team continued moving forward, passing a stack of pipe bombs as they went. "Savage will be one of the buyers," Leonard told the ground team. "Once we get eyes on, hang back. We'll boost him when this is all over."

They walked around the building. Deserey glanced around, searching for someone that looked something like the picture Rip had shown her earlier. But she didn't see anyone who even remotely looked like Vandal Savage.

"Any sign of him?" Carter asked over the coms. He sounded a little impatient. (Though Deserey guessed she would have been impatient, too, if she'd been waiting four thousand years to catch her murderer.)

"No," Leonard replied, frowning.

Mick walked over, and Deserey followed him, unsure what else to do. "He's not here, boss," Mick told him. The two stood next to each other, almost a well oiled machine. Deserey could practically see the years of experience oozing off the pair. It was startling, just how professional they looked.

"Let's get Ginger and the Professor and move out," Len decided quickly.

Before they could move, though, the PLO came onto the stage, speaking loudly, calling for attention. He thanked everyone for coming and promised it would be worth their time. Though, that wasn't really the shocking part. The shocking part was when Vandal Savage marched his way up to the stage, showing off the nuclear bomb like a Wheel of Fortune model.

He was a burly man with a thick, black beard and insane eyes. Even without the whole immortality thing going for him, he would have been intimidating. It was clear that he was a pretty dangerous dude, and Deserey didn't doubt he knew how to use that sword dangling from his belt. (Though, now it was painfully obvious why Kendra had chosen Carter over him. He was not all that attractive. Besides, who wants to be with a psychopath?)

Sara and Stein joined the others at the front of the room. Stein frowned, glancing at Leonard. "Seems we were wrong about Savage," he whispered. "He's not one of the buyers..."

"He's the seller," Sara finished.

"This is a variable-yield nuclear war head," Savage announced to the crowd, "capable of producing a blast equivalent to one megaton of TNT."

The PLO stepped forward. "Shall we begin our bid at one hundred million dollars?"

Someone fired a gun into the air. Deserey jumped, cursing. Sara snorted at her.

"One hundred million!" the PLO said, pointing into the crowd. "Do I hear one hundred five million?"

Another man fired his gun into the air, but this time Deserey was more prepared. It didn't make her scream this time, at least.

"One hundred ten?" the PLO went on. More gun fires. "One hundred fifteen?"

Savage froze on the stage for a moment. It looked like he was having some sort of seizure; his whole body stiffened, as he stared into the crowd, a blank expression on his face. After a moment, the psychopath blinked, and he looked normal (or as normal as an insane person could be) again. The PLO walked over and whispered something to him; the two chatted together for a month, but Deserey couldn't tell hear what they were saying.

Savage's gaze lingered on the time traveling team a little longer than it did on most others in the room. It was almost like he knew they were there to kidnap him. Panic settled in at that thought, and Deserey wanted to bolt out of the building as fast as possible. But she remembered what Leonard had said about staying put, so she forced herself to stand still.

"It seems we've drawn some unwanted attention," Stein said, noticing Savage's stare as well. "We need to bid. Fire your gun in the air."

Deserey nodded. Yeah. That must have been all it was. They looked suspicious, because they were the only ones not shooting. It made a lot more sense, anyway. How was Savage suppose to know what they were actually there for?

"One hundred twenty five million dollars!" the PLO called out next. Mick fired their gun at the roof. The building suddenly went very quiet. Sara frowned, looking around.

"Going once..." the PLO said. "Going twice..."

Still, nothing happened. No one else fired their guns. Deserey panicked again, the silence making her uneasy.

"Um, what's happening?" Sara asked, also looking nervous.

"It's what's not happening that's the concern," Stein muttered.

"Nobody else is bidding," Leonard said.

"Uh, meaning what exactly?" Dez asked.

"Sold!" the PLO yelled, pointing at the time travelers.

Mick smirked at Stein. "Congratulations, Professor. You just bought yourself a nuclear weapon."

A man walked over to them. His skin was pale like ice, and his hair was white like snow. Bright blue eyes pierced Deserey like a knife. She got the feeling this was another dangerous man they should have avoided. He wore a fancy grey suit -- a buttoned up shirt, matching pants, and black dress shoes.

"Well, well," the man said. "We seem to have a new player... But you seem a bit academic." He walked over to Stein, eyeing him suspiciously. "How did you get in here and who are you?"

Deserey couldn't help herself. She caved. "We're time travelers from the future. We snuck in to kidnap the seller."

The others gave shot her a look, and the man raised an eyebrow, as is if wondering how much pot she'd smoked before coming here.

"Yeah," Dez continued, pretending like she'd been joking all along. She nodded her head at Mick. "That's Rory I'm Amy." She swung her arm around Sara. "And this is our daughter River Song."

The man nodded slowly, rolling his eyes ever so slightly. "Cute. But really...who are you and how did you get in here?"

Sara leaned over to Deserey and whispered, "Nice save."

"Hey," Mick growled at the man. "Back off."

The man glared back at him. "Watch your tone!"

Savage walked over, then, and that's when Deserey knew everything was about to go to hell. "Is there some sort of problem?" Savage asked.

"Yeah, the master race here is starting to bug me," Mick said, shoving the grey suited man backwards.

Leonard stepped forward quickly, gently pushing Mick back. Dez guessed he must have sensed trouble, too. "We're just going to get our nuclear war head and be on our way," he said calmly.

"Not without paying first," the PLO said from where he was still standing on the stage.

"Once we've validated that the warhead's operational," Stein said. "Personally, I find it highly unlikely that you were able to accumulate enough fissionable material in this era to fashion a workable nuclear device."

Savage frowned. "In this era?" he asked.

"...Figure of speech," Stein said.

The grey suited man laughed, like the professor's awkward stuttering was a hilarious source of entertainment. "Yeah," he said. "And apparently they're time travelers, here to kill you or something. Aren't they just adorable?" The man kept laughing, as he walked away.

Savage didn't laugh though. He walked back on to the stage, looking very serious and maybe even a little homicidal. Apparently Deserey wasn't the only one thinking that meant bad news, because through her ear piece she could hear Jax talking to the hawks, "I got a feeling you might want to get those helmets of yours on..."

"Change of plans," Savage called out, proving that his serious manner meant nothing good. "I'll provide a twenty percent discount to the organization which brings me the heads of these men." He pointed at Stein, Leonard, and Mick.

"Does that mean we're safe?" Deserey asked Sara hopefully.

"And their women," Savage added.

"Nope," Sara said, withdrawing a knife from her pocket. "Ready for your first real fight?"

"Nope," Dez shook her head. But she took a handful of sand from her bag anyway.

Mick leaned over to Len, whispering, "Can I burn some stuff now?"

"I wish you would," Leonard responded. All at once, chaos broke lose.


	9. Nuclear Warheads

The building erupted into chaos in a matter of seconds. Mick turned swiftly, yanking his heat gun from his belt, firing it at the terrorists surrounding the team. Carter and Kendra swooped in, fists first. The pair flew around the building, kicking and punching the baddies in the face.

Leonard and Mick stood at the center of the room, firing heat and cold rays. They never fired at the same time, though. Deserey made a note to ask them why later. She tossed her handful of sand in the air, waving her hands to control it. Dez did her best to avoid her team mates, as she blinded the baddies with the miniature sandstorm.

Sara charged by her, smacking a man in the back with her weapon, knocking him to the ground, unconscious. Deserey thrust her hand out, as a large man charged towards her, splattering sand all over his face. He screamed, stumbling back with his hands over his eyes, as they watered terribly.

Before he could recover, a beam of blue hit him, and he fell. Only his body didn't hit the floor. Instead, shards of ice shattered, scattering everywhere. Deserey looked at Leonard with wide eyes. "You just killed a guy!"

He shrugged like it was no big deal, before running off to slap someone with the butt of his gun.

Dez rolled her eyes, chasing after Sara. She figured it was safest to stick with the assassin...as long as she didn't get in her way.

Grabbing another handful of sand and tossing it into the air, she captured a group of men in another miniature sandstorm. She felt a little useless, compared to the others, who were actually fighting properly, but this was all she knew how to do.

Sara closed her eyes and charged into the sandstorm, metal staff raised high in the air. (At some point she had traded her knife in favor of the staff, but Deserey couldn't remember when it had happened.) She swung the weapon around, slapping one man in the gut, knocking him to the floor. The assassin turned swiftly, breaking the staff over her knee, forming two batons; she ran forward, smacking the rest of the men in their heads, slamming her weapons against their kneecaps. She had taken them down in seconds. (All while keeping her eyes closed to avoid getting sand in them, mind you.)

Deserey let the sandstorm fall, grains of sand littering the floor and the assassin's hair. Sara grinned, as she opened her eyes and brushed some sand from her shoulder. "We make a pretty good team, Dez."

Deserey grinned back. "I guess, as long as you don't mind doing all the actual fighting." She shrugged.

A few feet away, Stein was being roughly man handled by one of the terrorists.

"Now would be a good time!" the professor yelled. Deserey looked at Sara. She didn't seem to notice the professor. Instead, she was glancing around at all the chaos around them, taking it all in. Some of the terrorists had began fighting each other, punching and kicking, even shooting one another, desperate to be the first to bring the team in. Deserey shook her head. She was about to suggest they help Stein, when she remembered Ray was in his pocket.

"Yeah," the man attacking Stein snickered, "to kill you!"

The professor rolled his eyes. "I wasn't talking to you!"

Ray flew from his pocket, growing back into his normal size and blasting the attacker into the wall with a blue energy beam. He flew off, leaving Stein to go meet Jax at the door. The two argued about something for a second, but now they were too far away for Dez to hear what they were saying.

"Come on!" Sara said. She took off at a sprint, as Stein and Jax merged into Firestorm. Deserey ran after her, taking another handful of sand in her hand.

Leonard and Mick were surrounded by men. They stood back to back, firing their guns at once; they spun in a small circle, as the fire and ice streams came in to contact with their enemies, turning them into frozen statues or burning corpses respectively.

Carter flapped his wings, grabbing a man by the shoulders and flying him high into the air before dropping him again. The man had time to let out a startled yelp, before slamming into the ground roughly.

Kendra flew around, swiping people off their feet as she went; Ray was on the ground, punching people out. Meanwhile, Firestorm flew around, blasting their nuclear energy at anything that moved. (Which made it kind of difficult for their team to, you know, not die.)

Sara and Deserey tag teamed the baddies together, Deserey forming a storm around them, Sara taking them out with her bad ass assassin skills. At some point Ray joined them. (He had a visor covering his eyes, so he was well protected against the sand.)

Someone yanked Deserey back by the shoulder. She yelped, but Sara and Ray were too far away to help. Firestorm was too busy, wildly blasting, to even notice she needed assistance. Mick and Leonard were still surrounded themselves; and Carter and Kendra were landing on the stage, where they would meet Vandal Savage. She was on her own.

Dez turned to meet her attacker. He was a big burly man with rigged yellow teeth and a big, uncombed beard. The man was wearing a cheap suit that would have made Darryl lose his mind. (He hated those crap things. If you were going to buy a suit, he reasoned, you ought to buy a good one.) She hesitated, not really sure how to defend herself. In high school she had taken self defense classes, but that had been ages ago. She was out of practice, and she couldn't remember any of the moves.

The man was gripping her arm so tightly it stung. Deserey flinched, and the man smirked deviously, thinking he had won. With her free hand, Dez dug into her sand bag, hoping the sting of the dirt would make him let go. She raised her hand to her mouth, a small pile of sand in her palm. On a whim, Deserey blew the sand in his face with a puff of air.

Thankfully, the man's iron grip released, though not in the way she expected it to. He fell to the ground, sand covering his face. But he wasn't screaming, like the others had, when they got it in their eyes. Instead, his chest moved up and down slowly, and his breathing became steady as a slumbering cats.

Sara punched a man in the face, knocking him out. She managed to make her way over to Dez, frowning at the man who had attacked her friend. "Is he...sleeping?"

"Yeah," Deserey nodded, as the Atom came over too. "Didn't know I could do that."

"That's cool," Ray said. "Might come in handy later."

She nodded again, glancing at the hawks and Savage. "That won't end well. We should help them."

"Agreed," Sara said. The three made their way over, the assassin and Atom punching whoever stood in their way.

"Prince Khufu," Savage was saying, glaring at Carter. "It's always the fashion plate." He tossed a silver throwing star at the Egyptian prince. Carter just barely managed to dodge the attack. Savage grinned at Kendra, making her squirm a little. "And your better half..."

"This ends here and now, Savage," Kendra said, sounding a lot braver than she looked. "You're coming with us!"

Savage scoffed. "I doubt you can apprehend me..." He turned to the bomb, which was still laying ever so innocently out on the stage. "And stop a nuclear explosion." He slammed his hand on the detonation button, causing the bomb to start counting down, before running off. (They had two minutes before everything went boom.)

Men jumped up on the stage. Ray nodded to the others. "You take care of them I've got this!" He shrank down, before flying into the bomb to work his nerdy magic.

Deserey turned, putting one of the men to sleep with her new found ability. Sara and the hawks went after the rest; the assassin sent a high kick, sending one man tumbling to the floor below with a bloody nose. Carter gave another man a black eye with the help of his mace, and Kendra swung another man around, throwing him to the floor.

Mick charged at another man, who was running to help his fellow baddies. The arsonist slammed into him, sending him toppling to the ground. Sara moved to the floor again, expertly swinging her weapons around in swift, well timed motions. It almost looked as though she were dancing, the way her body moved with such grace.

Firestorm sent a blast of nuclear energy down at a group of terrorists surrounding Leonard, very nearly hitting the thief also in the process.

Fortunately, Len rolled out of the way. He glared up at the burning man. (Men?) "Watch it!" he yelled.

Deserey was about to join the others again, when she heard a quiet beep come from the bomb. She glanced at the red numbers counting down, and her heart nearly stopped. They were now moving much faster, only giving them a mere thirty seconds now.

"Ray!" she yelled.

The Atom flew out of the bomb, growing back to normal size again. He looked panicked too. "I didn't do anything!" he promised. "It must have a fail safe..."

Sara ran back over after punching a man in the face. She groaned, when she saw the bomb's state. "Professor," she called over the coms, "Jax! We need you!"

The burning man flew over, almost throwing Ray off the stage, when they landed. They grabbed the bomb, bursting through the roof like someone from a cliche super hero movie. (Dez was kind of relieved to see that she wasn't the only one who didn't have a good handle on her powers.)

Sara scoffed at their lack of skill, before charging back into battle. Ray followed shortly after, when one of the baddies attempted to punch him in the face. He managed to block the hit with his forearm, leaving Deserey to wonder how even the most innocent one on the team could be more bad ass than she was.

The two grappled with each other for a moment, until Ray finally managed to punch the other guy out. As he did so, though, Dez thought she heard something snap. She glanced at the ground quickly to make sure, but she didn't see anything. Shrugging it off, she ran back into the battle behind the Atom.

Leonard kicked one of their attackers, as Mick fired his heat gun around the room. When the gun lost charge, he decked another baddie, and Leonard fired a stream of ice from his gun.

Kendra and Carter fought side by side, punching and kicking the attackers together. (It sort of looked like they were lining up to get their asses kicked.)

Sara moved like a wild animal, taking down the men at an alarmingly fast pace. She was unstoppable. Ray occasionally shrank down, disorientating his attackers, before blasting them with the blue energy from his suit.

Desserey did her best to be useful in the fight. She tossed a handful of sand in the air again, blinding their enemies with her little storm. And when she could think to do it, she put them to sleep, blowing some sand into their faces.

From over the coms, she heard Jax yelling. She glanced outside the window to see a mushroom cloud erupt from a distance and gasped. For a second, she thought they were all screwed, but then the mushroom cloud disappeared again, shrinking down, as though the explosion were being sucked right back into the bomb.

"We did it!" Jax cheered over the coms.

"Did what?" Carter asked. He kicked an attacker in the ribs, sending him stumbling right into Mick's fist.

"Oh yeah," Jax muttered. "I forgot you guys can't hear Gray when we're merged." He paused for a second, before explaining, "Well I don't understand the science or anything behind it, but basically we absorbed the energy from the explosion to make it not, you know, explode and kill everyone."

"How considerate of you," Leonard said, shooting yet another man down. "Let's get back to the ship, before any more trouble hits."

Deserey tossed another handful of sand in the air, causing it to swirl around the remainder of their attackers. The men stumbled around, cursing when they pumped into each other. While they were distracted, the team fled the scene. From across the water, Deserey spotted Firestorm flying away from a little island, hurrying to catch up with them, a trail of orange flames behind them.

The team was reunited a few feet from the auction building. Firestorm landed in front of the others, and flames twirled around them, as they de-merged. When they flames went out, there was once again two people -- Jax and Professor Stein. The professor looked a little exasperated, while Jax looked a little bit too high and mighty.

"Well, I'm glad you were the one calling the shots," Ray jabbed at Leonard.

The thief rolled his eyes. "I had it under control, until the Professor started picking fights with the PLO."

Carter nodded in agreement. "You let your ego endanger our entire mission!" he told Stein.

"No," Stein shook his head. "Mr. Rory's temper was completely out of control!"

"Whoa!" Mick scoffed. "I thought we were friends, Professor!" He glanced at Deserey. "Besides, what about her? She's the one who started talking about stupid SciFi shows!"

"Oh that's nice," Dez huffed. "Blame the new chick."

"Hey," Kendra said, trying to be positive. "At least there's one less nuclear bomb on the planet."

Stein sighed, nodding slowly. "I suppose you're right, Miss Saunders."

Sara shrugged. "We're all screw ups," she said. "Now, let's get back to the ship, where Rip no doubt is planning to tear us all a new one."

"Joy," Deserey muttered sarcastically.


	10. The Legendary Screw Up

Sara was right, when she had said Rip planned on tearing the team a new one. The captain was standing in the bridge, leaning against the office door frame, waiting for them.

He scowled, when he spotted the team. Deserey figured he'd be upset about them starting a fight, but he looked even more pissed than she was expecting. She looked down, already knowing they were going to be screamed at again. She really hated the screaming...

Rip clapped his hands slowly, laughing bitterly. When he spoke, his words were cold, like a harsh winter night. (Which sucked, because Leonard was the only Cold she agreed to working with.)

"Here, here!" Rip cheered, sarcasm dripping from his voice like venom. "Now, you all deserve a hearty congratulations!"

The team moved into the bridge silently. Jax and Dez sat in the chairs, while everyone else gathered around the console. No one spoke, as they listened to their captain's lecture.

Rip shook his head, looking angrier and angrier the more he talked. "Not only did you fail to capture Savage, you exposed yourself and your powers to him, giving away the element of surprise for now and all of time." He threw his hands up in the air, fed up. "Well done, team!"

Ray sat across from Deserey, looking a little put out. She frowned, feeling the guilt settle its way into her heart, like a vacationer returning home, cozying up after a long, tedious trip. This time she really had messed up. Sure, she hadn't been the only one, but it still hurt, getting yelled at for it. Now, she was sure, Rip was going to send her back home. Now, he definitely knew she was useless. That it had been a mistake to let her join the team.

Carter shrugged. He glanced around the room, before speaking up to defend the team. "We don't need the element of surprise. We know he's in Norway, so let's find him and --"

Rip cut him off with an abrupt wave of the hand. He walked to the console at the center of the bride with a huff. "Unfortunately, we have larger problems than Savage," he hissed. "If only you would have listened to me about the dangers of upsetting the time line!" He was rigged, practically shaking with fury. Rip banged his hands on the console in frustration.

"What are you talking about?" Kendra asked, sounding fed up herself. Rip's attitude was clearly starting to annoy her.

Rip turned to her with a snippy reply. "Well, while you were busy saving Norway from nuclear annihilation --"

"You're welcome Norway," Mick butted in.

"-- Savage sent one of his cronies back to the site of the arms sale," Rip continued, ignoring the arsonist. "Anyone care to guess what he found?"

There was a pause, as the team glanced around the room. Deserey frowned, not really sure what Rip was referring to. She still had her sand bag. Sara and the crooks still had their weapons. Nothing was missing.

Ray was awkwardly playing with the arm of his suit, when he frowned. Apparently, he had noticed something wrong with it. He moved his arm to get a closer look, before slowly lowering it again. "...Oops."

Deserey remembered the snap she'd heard, when Ray was fighting one of those baddies near the bomb. Her eyes widened, realizing a small piece must have broken off his suit. That's what had made the noise. But the piece was so small she hadn't noticed it amongst all the chaos. She sighed, her heart feeling even heavier than before. How could she have been so blind? Now, Ray was going to get into even more trouble because of her...

Gideon's glowing blue head appeared above the console. "I am unversed in modern American colloquialisms," the AI said. "Is 'oops' slang for 'oh sh-'"

"Yes!" Rip grumbled, cutting the curse off and sending Gideon's head into hiding once more. Deserey envied the robot. She wished she could just disappear whenever people started laying into her.

"Language," Sara whispered to Dez, a teasing smirk on her face. Deserey shook her head, though.

"Not the time, Barbie," she told the assassin.

Rip went on, evidently not hearing the two women. (Or he just didn't care enough to respond to their antics.) "Dr. Palmer seems to have thrown a spanner in the works for the entire timeline."

Leonard raised an eyebrow, looking bored. "Come again?"

Rip sighed. He was annoyed with them all for not understanding, but he had hardly explained anything to them yet. When he did give them an explanation it was usually after he had finished chewing them out for being stupid or disobeying. Deserey picked at her nails, wondering how the hell that was even remotely fair. Besides, it was his fault for choosing a bunch of losers to do his dirty work. He should have chosen someone else. Someone better.

"Armed with Dr. Palmer's future technology," Rip said, "Savage's engineers develop a weapon far more destructive than anything here in nineteen-seventy five!"

He pressed a button on the console, and a firey image appeared. It looked similar to the one he had shown them on the rooftop two nights ago, only worse. Robots stormed through the streets, terrorizing the people. Skyscrapers were burning to the ground. People were torn apart limb from limb, flesh dangling from their bodies, like strings. Deserey looked away, her stomach doing back flips. Why did he have to keep showing them stuff like that?

"This is Central City in twenty-sixteen," Rip announced. "Or at least it was. I'm not sure what the neo-fascists are calling it now."

Deserey didn't look up again. She hadn't even recognized the place as her home, until he'd said that. But she refused to look up to check that he was right. She didn't want to see her city burning to ash. She didn't want to see people being brutally murdered. The others stood around, quietly letting the image sink into their brains. The mood was once again, somber, as the residents of Central City watched their home get destroyed. Even Mick and Leonard seemed sad about it; now this whole saving time thing was a lot more personal...

"Argh! Okay, okay, we get it!" Dez shrieked, unable to take it anymore. "Just turn it off. Please."

Rip wordlessly pressed the button on the console again, causing the image to disappear. Stein stepped forward, blinking rapidly. "But there must be a way to correct this," he said hopefully.

Rip sighed again. When he spoke again, he was a lot calmer than he had been before, probably realizing he was acting like a huge dick, but he still sounded a bit testy. "Fortunately, Gideon was just showing us a forecast of the future you've all created." He leaned on the console, explaining things in a calm manner for once. "Time is like cement. It takes time to become permanent. In this case, until Savage's team have worked out the mystery of your future technology and molded it into their own ends." Rip nodded at Ray, as he said that last sentence. "And when they do, what you've seen here is no longer a forecast. This..." He sighed once more. "This is history..."

For a moment no one said anything. Deserey felt like her heart was drowning again, sinking in the pool that had filled her lungs on that roof top the night she'd met all these people. Her mind flashed to that image Rip had shown them that night. They had sped that up. Allowed Savage to take over several years before he was supposed to. They were supposed to be the heroes, they were supposed to be legends. Yet, so far all they've done was making everything worse. Typical.

Dez shook her head lightly. Darryl had been wrong. This trip wasn't going to fix anything, not for her. Not for the world. She was useless, just like everyone else here. What had she been thinking? Everything would have been better if she had just decided to stay, when they'd went back to Central City. If they had all just...stayed. Her thoughts turned, briefly, to the way Rip had found her. She couldn't help thinking that if he had wanted to save the future, he should have just let her hang herself. He should have left her corpse there to rot.

Leonard pushed off the wall he'd been leaning on. He walked to the center of the room, looking mildly annoyed. "So, thanks to Raymond leaving a piece of his suit in the past, the rest of us don't have a future to go back to."

"Unless, we do something to change this course of events, the future will become immutable," Rip sighed, sounding annoyed himself.

Ray shifted uncomfortably. Deserey couldn't blame him. Everyone was already angry at him for losing that piece of his suit and dooming the future. She imagined he couldn't have been feeling too good about himself right now; she would have stepped up to defend him, except she wasn't really in the mood. Too wrapped up in her own dark thoughts. (Just another reason she was a terrible human being. Another reason Rip should have let her die.)

"Exactly how much time do we have?" Ray asked.

"He already said that," Sara pointed out. "Pay attention, Ray!" She was irritated about the screw up sure, but Deserey thought the attitude was kind of unnecessary. Or maybe she was just being overly sensitive again. (How pathetic. Now she wasn't just getting offended about people yelling at her but about other people's issues too. She might as well grab her laptop and join the chaos that is the comment section on all social media.)

Rip sighed, (again) repeating what he had said just a few moments ago for anyone else who needed a recap. "We have until Savage's weapons team reverse-engineer your tech."

Stein stood at the center console now. He was waving his hands slightly, as he spoke, slightly worked up. "We're talking nineteen-seventies terrorists with twenty-first century weapons!" he ranted, "And since we don't know where Savage went --"

Ray cut him off, as he got to his feet. "We don't have to find Savage. We just have to find the other piece of my suit, which shrinks because it's made of an alloy which mimics intra-molecular compression of dwarf star, thus emitting Alpha Particles."

Deserey stared at him, unblinking. She hadn't understood a word he'd just said. Science was like a foreign language to her, all those big words she couldn't even pronounce. But when she looked around the room, she was glad to find she wasn't the only one who appeared to be confused. Sara, the hawks, and Mick seemed to be pretty baffled as well. In fact, the only one who really looked like he understood Ray was Professor Stein.

"So," the grey haired man said, sounding a tad excited, "we just need to be able to track them. Fortunately, Alpha Particles are highly trackable."

Ray frowned for a moment. "Yet, unheard of in the nineteen-seventies...It's like we're trapped in the Stone Age..."

Stein scoffed. He seemed mildly offended by that comment. "I'll have you know that I was researching Alpha Particles when you were eating crayons."

Deserey snorted. Little kids liked to stick things in their mouths. That was why she had never let her kids play with any of those small toys or even a crayon. They hadn't been allowed to touch anything until they were old enough to understand the phrase: "don't do that or you'll choke and die!" (What? Subtly wasn't her strong suit.)

Leonard stepped forward. He pointed at Ray for a second, picking up on what they were saying. "So, to track that piece of Raymond's suit we just need to talk to..." He turned swiftly, moving his finger to point at the professor.

"Me," Stein confirmed. "Twenty-five year old me, rather." He turned, moving to leave the room.

Rip stared at him, looking utterly flabbergasted. "Oi!" he called. "Where do you think you're going?"

Stein looked back at him. "To break into my old lab and bring us back the particle tracker."

Rip looked like he wanted to argue against the idea. Instead, he said, "Fine, but perhaps, you should take Jefferson and Sara with you to act as your intermediaries." He glanced at Deserey, like he was going to tell her to go too, but there was no way she was going to move anywhere.

It wasn't that she didn't want to help. She wasn't lazy, like Rory was. It was just that it became difficult to do anything, stand, eat, go on dangerous missions with fellow time traveling heroes. (Not that she was even much of a hero.) All she could manage was curling up in a ball and sleeping for a week straight. Honestly, why had Rip even bothered? She was crap. He should have let her die...

Rip turned back to Stein. (Dez guessed she had a long winded motivational speech coming her way later, though. Joy.) "Look, interacting with yourself in the past can have catastrophic effects upon the future."

"Fascinating." Stein nodded slowly, though he didn't give the impression that he cared even in the slightest. Perhaps there was a bit of scientific curiosity, but there was nothing to imply that he was actually worried about becoming the next legendary screw up. He turned to Jax and Sara. "Let's go."

Sara hung back, as the two halves of Firestorm moved to leave the room. "You two go on without me. I think I'll stay here and train with Dez." The two men nodded, before promptly exciting.

"Hm?" Deserey looked up, when she heard her nickname. She had barely heard the assassin's proposal. Her mind had joined her heart, drowning in the water that was ever rising inside her. It was clouding her vision, distorting the world around her, forcing her under until she was sure she'd die from lack of oxygen. To think, the water had once been a safe haven for her. It use to be the one place she could relax, the one place she could think without being tormented by hate or mental illness. Now, even that was killing her from the inside out.

"Yeah, I mean, you said you didn't know your limit when it comes to your powers right?" Sara said. "And it won't hurt to learn a few moves in hand to hand combat. Besides..." She walked over, holding her hand out for Dez to take. "You look like you need to get out of your own head."

"There's a room down the hall," Rip told the blonde woman. "It should be big enough. You're welcome to use it if you like." He walked into his office then, followed by the hawks, as Gideon announced that they'd be heading for the United States. The crooks and Ray stalked off, either to find some entertainment or to do something useful.

Sara was still standing in front of Deserey, her hand outstretched. Dez knew she wasn't going to leave her alone, until she did or said something. She sighed, forcing herself to take the blonde's hand. Sara pulled Deserey to her feet, dragging her down the hall and into the room Rip had told her about.

Carter was looking over his son's belongings in Rip's office, while the captain went over his notebook in the desk near by. Kendra was standing in the door way, staring blankly into the room.

"It doesn't feel real," she muttered, glancing at the jacket in Carter's hands. She touched the fabric gingerly. "Why doesn't it feel real?"

Carter shook his head. He wished he could have given her an answer, but the truth was he didn't have one. He'd been struggling with the same feeling himself for the last three hours. "Maybe we were just terrible parents..."

Kendra nodded slowly. She didn't meet his eyes. "Terrible parents and selfish people..."

Rip looked up from the notebook, eyeing them cautiously. Carter glanced at him, figuring he was going to say something. Instead, the captain just awkwardly turned back to reading the page he was on.

"We had a kid, knowing we could never give him a normal life, knowing we would probably just die soon anyway. And then we did," Kendra went on. "We died, and we left our little boy all alone. We didn't teach him to ride a bike. We didn't get to go to his school functions. We didn't help him move off to college or watch him become a professor. All we did was watch him die."

She crossed her arms over her chest, staring down at the jacket solemnly. "And I don't even know if I have any right to feel bad about his death, because I wasn't there. I barely even remember having him." She shook her head. "I don't remember my own son...Do you?"

Carter hesitated for a moment, realizing that she was right. He couldn't remember a damn thing. For all he knew they really were the worst parents ever. Had he tucked Aldus in at night, when he was little? Did she rock him back to sleep when he woke up from a nightmare? Did they support his hobbies? Did they even know what his hobbies were?

Any other father would have been able to answer those questions easily. Any other father would remember making the decision to have kids with his wife. He would remember the day his son was born, because that would have been the happiest day in his life. He would have remembered everything about his son, about the time he'd spent teaching him, helping him grow into a proper young man...But Carter didn't.

He couldn't remember anything about that life. The only reason they even recognized Aldus to begin with was because he had had to tell him. They didn't know until he had called Kendra mother. They didn't realize he was their son until he'd shown them a family photo of them at the state fair. (And even after that, Carter still couldn't remember that day.)

Whenever he tried to recall something from that life, Carter got a searing pain in his temple. It was like the memories themselves wanted to be locked away. And everyone knew only bad memories were kept from the forefront of a person's mind. So, how could he be sure of what sort of father he was? How could he say whether or not he'd been a good man? A good father...

The only real thing he could remember was Vandal Savage. He couldn't remember anything about his son. He didn't have one memory of himself bonding with Aldus. But that night, the night Savage took them away from their son...Well, he remembered that night quite vividly. He remembered hiding his son in the closet, telling him not to move or make a sound, no matter what. And he remembered running downstairs, hoping to keep that monster away from him. He remembered Savage slitting Kendra's throat, before jamming that knife through Carter's chest...But that was it. That was all he could remember.

Was there even anything to remember? Was there even a life for them outside of Vandal Savage?

Kendra was looking at him, her eyes glossy. He could tell she was having similar thoughts. "All these lifetimes...all these years we've been alive...and we haven't even really had one life..."

She looked at Rip. He had his nose deep into Aldus's notebook, trying desperately not to intrude on their conversation. Carter felt a little bad about that. It was awkward, watching someone have a somber moment, when you knew you shouldn't be part of it. (But shouldn't he have been? Rip was the only other one on this ship who had been badly burned by Savage. The only other one who knew what it was like to have his world ripped away from him by that monster. Shouldn't he have been in this conversation, too, then?)

"Where is he?" Kendra asked the captain. "Um, Aldus's body I mean...I went in there earlier, but I didn't see him..."

Rip blinked, looking around a moment, as if to make sure she was actually talking to him. "Oh, um...there's a cryo-storage in the medbay. We put him in there until we can give him a proper farewell...and we will give your son a proper burial."

She nodded slowly. "It's still so weird to call him that...Uh, sorry about all the...whining. It's just..." She shrugged helplessly.

"It feels like something's missing," Carter supplied, putting Aldus's jacket down again.

Rip opened his mouth to say something, but before he could something fell from the jacket's pocket.

Kendra frowned, picking it up. It was an old newspaper article with tint print and a picture of a golden dagger at the top. "I've seen this knife before..." She paused for a moment, trying to recall the details. "Savage used it to kill us. In our first life." Her eyes widened, as she locked gazes with Carter. He stared back at her, stunned.

Back in Central City, when Barry and Oliver had helped them stop Savage, (even if it was just for a few years) they had learned that the objects associated with the night of their death, (deaths?) could also be used to kill Savage. Though according to Rip only Kendra or himself, Carter, could wield the weapons. Still, if they got their hands on that dagger, they could end this once and for all. (Was it too much to get his hopes up?)

Rip flipped through Aldus's notebook, quickly finding a small bit about the same dagger that was on the newspaper clip. "The dagger needs to be wielded in conjunction with an incantation inscribed on it..." He trailed off, looking at the two hopefully.

Kendra looked back at the captain sheepishly. "I don't know," she said. "I can't read the language..."

"It's okay," Carter told her. "I'll help you remember."

"Splendid," Rip said, relief washing over his face. "Now as for the dagger... We'll need someone to steal it."

Leonard walked in to the room, Mick and Ray trailing behind, (the latter of which had changed out of his Atom suit) just in time to hear those words. He sighed dramatically, plucking the article from Kendra. "Okay, fine," he said, like they had even asked him. "Whatever. I'll do it. What is it?" He glanced over the clipping, as Rip quickly filled him and the other two in.

"Article says it was purchased by some rich Russian douche bag named Sasha Mahnovski," Len said. He shrugged, waltzing away with swagger.

"I'll go with you," Ray said.

"I already got a partner," Leonard said, nodding at Mick.

"Who we trust even less than you," Ray muttered.

"Look," Rip said, mostly just to avoid any more arguments. "You're more than welcome to go with them, just don't bring along any more of your future tech."

The inventor nodded curtly, following the two thieves out of the room.


	11. Love Poem and TrainingMental Illness

"Concentrate, Kendra," Carter said patiently. "You know how to read the inscription...At least you use to."

They were standing in the bridge next to the console, now. For half an hour they had been working, trying to unlock the priestess's memories. He'd tried visual shocks, telling her stories, hoping they would help. But so far, nothing seemed to be working.

"Yeah," Kendra huffed in frustration. "Well, my hieroglyphics is a little rusty."

"Lapidary hieratic, actually," Gideon pipped up, "an ancient language lost to the ages."

Kendra ignored the talking computer. She, instead, looked at her soul mate. "Don't you know how to read it?"

Carter shrugged. "It was a language known only to the clergy."

Gideon spoke again, trying to be helpful. "If we only had a Rosetta Stone, I might be able to --"

"Well," Carter said, cutting the AI off, nodding at Kendra. "You are our Rosetta Stone."

She sighed, frustrated, as he walked closer to her.

"Just close your eyes," he told her. "Think of it as meditation. Relax. Open your mind."

Kendra eyed him suspiciously. "You're getting this from that one life where you were a yoga instructor aren't you?"

"...Maybe," he said.

She smirked, rolling her eyes. But she did close them after a moment, breathing slowly. Carter spoke, hoping this would help even a little. "In order for you to remember how to kill Savage, I need you to let your mind float...back through your hundreds of previous lives."

Slowly, he moved behind her, carefully touching her shoulders so he didn't spook her. "You're name is Chay-Ara," he said quietly. "And you're a priestess in the temple of Horus."

For a moment she stood perfectly still, and he could tell that something must have been happening in her mind. Her breathing started picking up a little. She moved away, turning to face him with a gasp.

"What?" he asked, worried. "What did you see?"

"Us," she breathed. "We were together. Like...together together." The way she said it reminded him the way a grade school kid might tell someone they had a crush on them by saying "I like like you." Though, it occured to him that she wasn't really talking about romance. She was speaking more erotically.

"Oh," he muttered awkwardly. She stared back at him, a small blush forming on her cheeks. He thought she looked absolutely adorable that way...her hair falling over her face as she turned her gaze to the floor, the way her hand gently reached up to brush it back again.

For a moment he just watched her, marveling at her beauty. In each life time she always looked a little different, whether it be something about her hair or the color of her eyes, but each time he found her to be absolutely stunning. In this life he hair was a lighter shade of brown than it had been in previous lives, but it still took his breath away. The curls were enchanting. And the way her body curved was enticing.

Of course, her body wasn't the only thing he cared about. She was also the kindest soul he had ever met. She was generous and loving, even to people she had just met. She hated to see another suffer, hated bullying and bigotry. (Not to mention she was a total bad ass on the battle field, if not just a little clumsy.) In this life time they hadn't met until two months ago, but he could already feel his heart yearning for her, longing to be by her side wherever she was. (But only if she wanted him to be.)

That was the only good thing about reincarnation, Carter guessed. He got to fall in love with her over and over again. So, he never forgot why he loved her so much.

In the heat of the moment, Carter leaned forward to kiss her, forgetting that they hadn't yet done so in this life. She had just regained all of her memories, and he hadn't wanted to rush her into anything. So, they had remained abstinent. He pulled away quickly, as he remembered that fact. "I...uh...sorry," he mumbled.

Kendra shook her head. "No," she said quietly. "It's...fine" She looked at him with those big, beautiful brown eyes of hers, smiling softly.

"Right," he nodded, clearing his throat awkwardly. "Well, uh, let's try this again... You know what to do."

She closed her eyes once more, breathing slowly. He watched, wondering how a person could wear so many faces but be so beautiful in all of them. Quietly, he repeated the phrase from a few moments ago, shoving the thought to the back of his mind.

"And though my soul departs the earth," Kendra muttered, her eyes still closed, "I count my days till my rebirth. I will wait across eternity for my love to come back to me." She opened her eyes again, looking at him. He stared back, vaguely remembering those words from somewhere...

"The knife," Kendra said. "You gave it to me. And the inscription... It's a poem -- a love poem, which promises..." She trailed off.

It was strange. Those words sounded more like a prophecy foreshadowing their never ending lives. "Promises what?" Carter asked, though he was sure he already knew.

"That we'd be together forever," Kendra said softly.

For a second they didn't say anything else. They stood, looking in to each others eyes like one of those cheesy romance movies. (She had always hated them, but he'd always secretly enjoyed them.) She stepped forward, closing the gap between them, before leaning in and gently kissing him.

It was their four thousandth first kiss, but the sparks still flew. He felt like a teenager all over again, his body and mind exploding with hormones and emotions he couldn't quite understand. He kissed her back, but it never went further than that. Partly because he didn't want to rush her into anything else, partly because they were interrupted seconds after their lips touched.

Sara came skipping into the bridge, looking like she was up to no good. "Hey, have you seen my -- Oh." She stopped abruptly, when she spotted the two. The hawks quickly jumped away, blushing like school kids.

The blonde smirked teasingly. "Am I interrupting something?"

"No," Kendra said, awkwardly scratching the back of her head. "We were just, um, working on the inscription...Did you need something?"

Sara snapped her fingers and pointed at her. "Right," she said. "Yes. I was looking for my knives."

Carter nodded to a bag sitting by the chair Sara had been sitting in earlier. "Is that them?"

"Ah, yeah. Thanks." Sara walked over and swung the bag over her shoulders. She started out the door again, before Kendra stopped her.

"What did you need them for?" she asked.

"In the League of Assassins, when we have an uncooperative rookie we resort to deadly measures," Sara said, nodding at the bag.

"You're going to throw them at Dez?" Kendra frowned. "Isn't that dangerous?"

Sara rolled her eyes, scoffing. "Please. Five years on Lian Yu was dangerous. This is child's play."

Kendra stared at her, a little worried. "I don't think assassins and children are exactly the same thing."

Sara shrugged. "Potato, patoto. I'll let you two get back to...working on the inscription." With a suggestive wink, she skipped off down the hall again, looking a bit too happy at the idea of throwing knives at someone.

"Uh, she'll be fine," Carter said, referring to Deserey.

Kendra shook her head, chuckling. Carter followed her movement, laughing, too, after a moment. "Nope..."

"She's gonna die," Kendra said.

When the knife lodged itself into the wall behind her, Deserey jumped, screaming in surprise. She glared at the doorway, spotting a cheeky blonde woman in white leather, a black army bag hanging off her shoulder.

"What the hell, Sara?" Dez complained.

"Relax," Sara said. "I wasn't aiming at you."

"What if you missed?"

She let out a loud laugh, before staring at Deserey seriously. "I don't miss."

Deserey rolled her eyes, sighing loudly. She rested her head against the wall, not really in the mood for the other woman's antics. All she wanted to do was go to her room and sleep, but Sara wouldn't let her leave this room and there was no comfortable place to lay in here.

Another knife lodged itself into the wall, right next to Dez's head. She jumped again. "Sara!" she yelled.

"I said I was going to train you," Sara said.

"I don't want to train," Dez told her, and her voice sounded a bit whiny, even to herself.

"Why not?" Sara asked.

"Because I want to die!" Deserey shouted without thinking.

Sara paused, staring at her, stunned.

"Well... that's one way to out my depression," Deserey muttered to herself.

Sara nodded slowly. "I'm sorry," she muttered. "I didn't know."

"Why the fuck does everyone act like it's cancer? Yeah, I hate myself. That doesn't mean my brain is eating itself, or whatever happens during cancer!" Deserey shouted. Thankfully, no one was around to hear it except Sara.

"I mean, you're freaking Barbie. You're gorgeous, kind, and you can actually take care of yourself. Me, I'm just a whiny, good for nothing who has somehow survived six suicide attempts in the past year."

Sara snorted. "I am not that kind, Dez. And honestly, I cannot for the life of me figure myself out. You say you want to die? Well, I have died. It's not much better, trust me. It's cold...and dark. It's almost like everyone you love is a million miles away...So, trust me. You don't really want to die."

"It's better than living," Deserey muttered.

Sara shook her head. "Not really..."

"Whatever," Deserey said. It was obvious Sara wouldn't believe her, so why preach to someone who already has their mind made up.

"Why do you even think that?" Sara asked softly.

"What's the point of being alive and wasting so much space?" Dez shrugged. "I've never done anything useful. I never will. You heard Rip. We're all useless. We'll never amount to anything."

"That's why we're changing the future," Sara insisted.

"How can you change something that's already been done?"

"But it hasn't," Sara insisted. "It's not set in stone, Deserey, and I guarantee you will have done something worthwhile. Hell, I'm sure you already have, you just didn't realize it.."

Deserey shrugged, not really believing it. She stood up and pulled one of the knives from the wall. For a second she stared at it, wondering how slow death would come if she were to just stab herself right then.

"Don't you dare," Sara said. "I'll have Gideon save you, and then everyone will know, and I bet you don't want that."

Goddamn heroes.

Dez sighed. She lowered the knife slowly, looking at the assassin helplessly. "You're right..." she muttered. "You're right..."

"Only say it if you believe it," Sara replied coldly.

"...Didn't you say you wanted to train?" Dez asked. "I mean, I still don't want to, but it's better than listening to motivational speeches that don't work."

Sara sighed before nodding.

At the exact same second, she threw a knife that landed right next to Deserey's head on the wall. Deserey couldn't help but hope she missed and hit her, instead.

"Don't dream of it," Sara replied. Deserey swore Sara could read her mind sometimes. Sara had a temporary superpower.

The assassin moved forward, circling Deserey. "We'll start with some basic self defense moves. You'll need to know all the pressure points." She touched a spot on her neck, then a face places on her face...and a couple on her arms and legs. It was to show her where the pressure points were, but Dez couldn't help but to feel like maybe it was a bit more aggressive than needed.

"Why do you care?"

"Because you're my friend," Sara said harshly. She stalked back, likely to grab more knives, but Deserey was done with this shit.

"Why, Sara? Why the fuck do you care at all? Because, I'm sorry, but being my 'friend' isn't enough."

"Well, maybe this is," Sara said. She walked up to her, the knives forgotten in her haste. She was so close they were touching, lips merely inches apart.

"...I don't like having friends," Deserey admitted, her voice barely above a whisper. "Friends get tired..."

Sara shrugged. "I don't tire easy."

"But you will. They all do."

"Not me. I can go for miles...if you know what I mean." She winked at her.

Dez thought the blonde would make a move...But it was Deserey who closed the distance. Sara froze, surprised by the sudden action. Dez pulled away, embarrassed.

"I..sorry...I thought you were...suggesting something. I...I'm an idiot. I'm sorry." Before Sara could say anything she ran off, disappearing down the hall.

She ran to the bathroom, but before doing so, she grabbed a knife from Sara's pile.

She ran into the bathroom, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I'm such an idiot," she muttered, pulling her sleeves up. She stared at the many scars there, tears falling into them.

She took a deep breath, wiping at her eyes before making a straight line. She could see, more than feel the blood slowly coming up, but before it could overflow, she made another. Soon, blood was dripping on the floor, neat cuts across her forearms.

"Deserey? Dez? Open up!" Sara shouted from outside the door, but Deserey was so focused she couldn't hear her.

"Dez? You alright?"

Suddenly, the door was being opened and Sara was busting in, only stopping when she saw the knife in the other woman's hand.

"Dez...?"

Deserey froze, knowing she was going to get another lecture from her.

So, before Sara could take it away, Deserey made another cut, closing her eyes in both pain and relief. It just... calmed her. It sounded weird, but the pain could help her focus. It helped her forget her other feelings, her weird stray thoughts. Sara wouldn't understand, and Deserey knew that.

"Dez... why? Why would you do this?"

"You wouldn't get it..." Dez mumbled. "No one ever does...My parents didn't. Friends didn't...Darryl didn't..."

"I don't know who Darryl is, but you can't do this to yourself. This... it's wrong. You don't deserve... this."

"He's my husband," Deserey said. "I mean...he was...But." She shrugged, not knowing what else to say about him. "And I don't do it because I think I deserve pain, Sara. I do it because...it's release. But you won't ever understand. No one ever does..."

But she did deserve it, didn't she? She was just a waste of space, and she couldn't do anything. She deserved this.

"Hey," Sara said softly. "Look at me." She gently placed her hand under Deserey's chin, forcing her to look her in the eyes. "It's okay. I'm not judging you. But I mean it. You don't deserve this pain. You deserve so much more."

"Sure doesn't seem like it," Deserey muttered.

"I don't say anything that I don't mean." Sara stared at her seriously, almost glaring. Like she was daring her to try to say something bad about herself again. "So, when I say you don't deserve to suffer, I mean it. When I say you're my friend, I mean it. It doesn't matter that we haven't known each other long. We're a team. We stick together." She didn't say anything about the kiss, Deserey noticed. She wondered if it had been so terrible...

"Hands, put your empty hands in mine," Sara sung, reaching out for Deserey's hands. "And scars, show me all the scars you hide," Sara whispered, flipping them over to show her wrists. "Please take mine so yours can open too."

"'Cause I'm gonna stand by you," Sara whispered.

"Oh, tears make kaleidoscopes in your eyes. And hurt, I know you're hurting, but so am I. And love, if your wings are broken. Borrow mine so yours can open too. 'Cause I'm gonna stand by you," Sara said gripping her hands tightly.

"Even if we're breaking down, we can find a way to break through. Even if we can't find heaven, I'll walk through hell with you. Love, you're not alone, 'cause I'm gonna stand by you," Sara told her, pulling her out of the bathroom. Deserey wanted to ask where they were going, but she didn't want to ruin the moment.

"Even if we can't find heaven, I'm gonna stand by you. Even if we can't find heaven, I'll walk through hell with you. Love, you're not alone, 'cause I'm gonna stand by you," Sara sang quietly as they raced through the Waverider's halls toward the Medbay.

That made sense, Deserey decided after a moment of looking at her wrists, which was still bleeding profusely.

"Yeah, you're all I never knew I needed. And the heart, sometimes it's unclear why it's beating. And love, if your wings are broken. We can brave through those emotions too.'Cause I'm gonna stand by you."

Deserey found herself on the table, staring at the ceiling as Sara held her hand and sang to her.

"Oh, truth, I guess truth is what you believe in. And faith, I think faith is helping to reason," Sara said, and when Deserey turned to face her, there were tears in her eyes.

"No, no, no, love, if your wings are broken. Borrow mine so yours can open too. 'Cause I'm gonna stand by you," Sara whispered.

Deserey didn't remember much of what happened next because blood loss started to take effect, but Sara told some things to Gideon, and restraints were being clicked in, but Deserey was too tired to protest.

Soon, she was unconscious.


	12. Leave it to the Arsonist

When Deserey woke up, the first thing she noticed was a blue parka standing over her. She blinked, wondering when the boys had gotten back from their mission. (At some point she vaguely remembered hearing Sara and Kendra talking about Ray going with the two crooks to steal some magical dagger or something.)

"Morning, sunshine," Leonard drawled. Her first instinct was to glance down at her wrists, which were uncovered, clear to anyone who looked at them. Deserey tried to move them, to hide them, but the restraints stopped her from doing so.

Looks like she couldn't run, either.

Leonard glanced down at her wrists too, but his gaze didn't linger too long. Almost like he knew she didn't want people to see them…

"Why?" he asked her, his eyes piercing hers. It felt like he could see into her soul.

"Did Sara recruit you?" Deserey asked, her face burning. Had Sara played her? After everything, she had betrayed her already?

"Well, duh. But not for the reasons you think."

"What do you mean?" she asked, too miserable to put the pieces together on her own.

Leonard rolled his eyes. She glared back at him. "What?" she demanded.

Instead of answering, he pulled up the sleeves of his parka, broadcasting his own scars for the world to see. Except it was Deserey instead of the entire population.

"Oh," she muttered. "So…" She trailed off, not even bothering to finish the sentence. What was she supposed to say anyway?

"Yep. I'm sure I was supposed to give you some encouraging speech about how it's bad and shit, but I'm not gonna. Basically, you shouldn't do that as much as you likely do 'cause you'll kill yourself, but that's the goal for you, isn't it?"

Deserey stared at him. How did he know that?

"Some of your scars are deeper than others," he explained. "I looked through them while you slept."

No, that wasn't creepy at all. Deserey gave him a look to let him know her opinion about that. But she didn't say anything. She couldn't bring herself to speak, because she knew the moment she tried to say something she'd break down like a little kid.

"Just curious, but why? My depression is because my dad beat the shit outta me, but there are different cases."

"It's...a long story," Deserey shrugged. "I don't really want to talk about it."

"Well, tough luck, 'cause I ain't leaving 'till you do."

"Then you'll stay here for a while."

Deserey couldn't say she hated the idea, though. It was nice to have someone who cared for once.

"It's a time ship," he reminded her. "We've got all the time in the world."

She hesitated, looking him up and down. "I'm not sure you could understand…" She started picking at her fingernails. "I didn't grow up in a good place. I mean...I guess it could have been worse. At least I had a roof over my head and a good family but…" She shrugged. "Kids are mean in the eighth grade. Especially in a town full of racist morons...And I know I sound like I'm just playing the race card but...that's why.

"They made me hate myself. They said everything was wrong with me, not just my skin color. My personality, my family, everything. And it hurt. It still hurts…" She didn't meet his eyes, not really wanting to see his reaction.

When she finally did, she wasn't met with pity. It was understanding.

"I got made fun of in locker rooms," Leonard muttered. "People didn't understand where the bruises came from. They'd make fun of the darker ones, say I was racist. Soon, I was getting beat up not only at home, but at school, too."

Deserey looked at him, her eyes watering a little. It was embarrassing, but she just felt so relieved that someone actually understood, even just a little. "I can't stop feeling hurt because of it…And you know, I'm pretty sure my kids think that I hate them. I don't see them anymore, because I can't even...feel anything around them. My body is numb. My mind is numb. I can't move forward."

"I don't have kids, and I don't think I ever will. What if I'm like him?"

It felt like they were both just talking to themselves, ranting about their own problems in a way that was just easy. Somehow, that helped a little…

"Does it ever get any better than this?" Deserey asked, and she got the feeling he was wondering the same thing.

"I don't know. But I sure hope to hell that it does."

In the end, Deserey fell asleep, and when she woke, Leonard (now Len) was gone, without a note or anything. Honestly, she was slightly disappointed.

In his place, Sara stood, hand on her hip. She was looking at her with concern. But not the way everyone else did. It wasn't like she was some poor broken being that could never be fixed. (even though she was.) Sara looked at her like her worry might be real, like she might actually care, instead of just faking it to make herself look good. It reminded Deserey of Darryl.

"You alright?" she asked, and Deserey got the feeling she had better tell the truth.

"Yeah. At least, I'm better."

Sara nodded. She moved to her side, sitting on a crate of medicine bottles, since the only other chair was used for patience and across the room. "I'm glad," she said, before hesitating a bit. "So...listen. About that kiss…"

Deserey looked down. She was gonna get rejected, Sara thought it wasn't that good…

"I don't want you to think you did anything wrong," she said. "It was great, really. But it was...freaky." She paused for a second, as she searched for the right words to explain herself. "I died. And my sister brought me back, but since then I've been...struggling. I haven't been kissed since before I died. It was like having my first kiss all over again, and I'm not really use to feeling...like that.

" I've only had one real relationship before, but we had to break it off, because she thought she was too toxic for me. She wanted me to move on but… I'm not sure I can. My past...it always seems to come back to haunt me, you know? Besides, I don't think you're exactly in the right state of mind for anything concrete either…"

Deserey couldn't help but be slightly offended, even if she knew where Sara was coming from, and that she was right.

Sara looked at her awkwardly. "That sounded a lot better in my head…"

Deserey looked away, forcing the tears away. She wasn't going to cry for something that had no chance of even happening.

"I get it," she said. "You don't have to explain yourself. I can take a hint. It was stupid. I shouldn't have done it. I was just trying to...feel something…But I guess there was nothing there to feel." She shrugged, probably looking a little pathetic in the process. "I mean, why would there be? There was only one person in the world who could love me, but I let him go. So, now there's no one."

Sara looked down, as if ashamed. Maybe she was. But it was nothing compared to how Deserey was feeling.

Now that the restraints were off (they must have been removed in her sleep) she could walk freely. She stood up, just as Carter walked in. He looked back and forth between the two, frowning worriedly. For a moment Dez was scared that Sara had told him too, but he didn't look like he actually knew anything. Everyone who knew always had this look about them, pity or annoyance. Ignorance or a hero complex. She found it was usually one or the other with people. Carter didn't have either of those looks, so Deserey guessed he didn't know. (In fact, when she asked him about the look later, he said it was because he had thought Sara pushed her too hard during their training. [Which of course she lied about, saying that that was, indeed, why she was in the med bay.])

"There you are," he said, looking at Sara. "Jax and Stein just checked in. They said they could use your help getting Ray's suit back, and they want you to meet them at the location. Gideon has the map pulled up in the bridge."

Sara nodded curtly. "Tell them I'm on my way." When he turned and walked back down the hall, Sara turned back to Deserey opening her mouth to speak, but Dez held her hand up to stop her.

"Go," she said. "Save the world. Don't worry about me."

With that, Deserey got to her feet, leaving Sara behind in favor of looking for Len. Maybe he'd be willing to talk again.

She'd found the thief thirty minutes later. Len was sitting in his room, cleaning the cold gun, a bored expression on his face.

"What's up?" she asked, taking the seat opposite to him.

"I should be asking you that," he replied without looking up.

She shrugged. "Medbay got cramped." They sat in silence for a moment, before she asked, "So, how'd your grand theft dagger thing go?"

Len raised an eye brow, "You heard about that?" Before she said anything, he shrugged, contiuing, "Raymond almost got us all killed, of course...But we managed. Turns out the house belonged to Savage."

"Ooh. Fun," Dez commented.

There was another long pause, as Leonard finished cleaning the cold gun. When he was done, he placed the weapon next to him on his bed, like it was something delicate. Dez thought it was a little strange, the way he treated the thing with such care, but she didn't question it.

"So… Family Guy?" Len asked with amusement. He snorted when her face lit up.

Leonard turned on the tv (which was mounted to the wall across from them) and started an episode. The two leaned back in their chairs, just relaxing.

Dex watched the show, the way the dysfunctional Griffins interacted with one another. They were so broken beyond repair, yet somehow they worked well together, like a well oiled machine. It got her thinking about her own family. Were they just as broken? (Or maybe she was just looking too far into the stupid comedy.) She glanced at Len, before looking back at the television.

"You have any family?" Deserey asked after a moment. Len shook his head before reconsidering. Then he nodded.

"A sister," he told her. "She means everything to me."

Deserey nodded slowly. She had never had any real family, and any blood relatives were dead. Well, except for her kids, Daren and Anita. But did they even count, after they had started living with Darryl full time? Did it count when she never even saw them anymore?

"Anyway," Len said, clearing his throat. It was obvious this was a rough subject for him, so Deserey allowed him to change the subject. "Why do you like this show so much?"

"Don't you like it, too?" Deserey asked with a raised eyebrow. Len nodded slowly. "I do. I'm just curious why you do. Doesn't seem like your style."

She shrugged. "Well, who doesn't like a bit of dark humor? It's crude, but it's funny. Plus, I've been watching it my whole life, so maybe I'm just a bit biased. Also...now that I've met him, doesn't the baby remind you a little of Rory?"

Leonard gave her a curious look. "How so?"

She shrugged. "'Cause Stewie has that whole aggressive thing going on. World domination, killing his mother --"

"Stewie never actually kills Lois," Len pointed out.

"Yeah, but he wants to," Dez shrugged again. "Anyway, he's got all that homicidal rage, but then he's secretly...just a baby."

Leonard smirked. "Are you calling Mick a baby?"

"I mean… he's got the intellect of one," Deserey teased. Len laughed.

"He's actually a lot smarter than people give him credit for," Len said thoughtfully. "I mean, he's got the buff, so he just plays the dumb bodyguard, but he actually is really helpful with planning. And, you know, he doesn't mind doing the dirty work, so…"

Deserey nodded slowly. She could usually tell when people weren't living up to their full potential, but she had hardly considered it in Mick's case. She had just assumed he was lazy and dumb, because that's the way he acted, and...admittedly, she had made the assumptions based on his criminal background. Now, she felt a little guilty about judging the arsonist so hastily. Just like she had assumed Ray was a happy go lucky boy scout who hadn't been through any rough patches...She'd misjudged both of them. They were more than that. Ray wasn't just a self righteous billionaire, and Mick wasn't just a crazy murderer who liked playing with fire.

And now that she thought about it, they were perfect together. Their personalities perfectly balanced one another, and their back and forth banter was super cute. (Not to mention that nickname Mick had given Ray on their first mission.) Still, it would probably be best if she stayed out of their love life, at least for now. They had to stop the immortal baddie before they worried about lovey dovey crap.

"You two are really close, aren't you?" Deserey asked after a moment. "How long have you known each other?"

"I know it's ironic, considering my unique ability, but I have absolutely no idea."

"What ability?" Deserey asked.

"Let's just call it a photographic memory," Len shrugged. "But...it's been a really long time. I lost count of how many years it's been since we first met in juvie..."

Deserey nodded in understanding, but she was not about to let the whole 'considering my unique ability' thing go. "You have a photographic memory!?"

"What? Is it that hard to believe I'm naturally this amazing?" He smirked.

"They're just so rare," Deserey replied, looking away. She didn't know why, but this just felt unfair. The only person who could understand how she was feeling was actually special? Was rare?

"Hey, now," Len said, grabbing her chin gently just as Sara had done. "It's alright."

She blinked at him, wondering how he somehow always knew what she was thinking. Then, she remembered what happened when she had kissed Sara and shoved whatever feelings that may have been rising up down. It was all in her head.

But that didn't exactly make them go away, especially since they were so close. Especially when she could just turn her head and their lips would meet.

So she turned her head away, wanting to avoid any more awkward rejection. They had a job to do, she reminded herself. No time for lovey dovey crap...

"What? Am I too pretty to resist?" Len teased, but there was something in his eyes, something that reminded her of Sara.

She closed her eyes tightly, fighting the tears. One escaped, despite her efforts, and Deserey definitely felt it when Len wiped it away with his thumb.

"Don't be sad," he told her. "It's alright."

Now she knew why he always knew when she was sad. She was always crying. Damn, she really was weak wasn't she?

"What are you thinking? Because I guarantee it isn't true," Leonard whispered in her ear. Deserey fought the urge to lean into the touch, to curl into the warm man who was so unlike his cold exterior.

She shrugged. "I just don't see how I'm going to fit in here. I'm really just...nothing compared to everyone else here. I can't fight, and when Sara tried to help me learn I bit her head off. I don't have the strength, mentally or physically to fight anyone, never mind some immortal creep.

"So, I really don't know what I'm doing here. I'm just...weak." She laughed bitterly. "No wonder everyone leaves...No wonder he left me…" That last part was about Darryl. She really missed him. Maybe that was why she had kissed Sara, why she wanted so badly for this thing with Leonard to be something more than what it was. Deserey was craving attention.

And maybe, just maybe, she was craving Darryl. She longed for his touch, for his embrace...she just wanted to be near him.

Len looked like he was about to say something, but before anything left his mouth, they heard shouting from down the hall. The two exchanged looks, before getting up to see what the commotion was.

Walking into the bridge, they found Professor Stein, Jax, and Sara, along with some stranger. He was a young man, about twenty five, with thick blonde hair and a cocky attitude radiating from him. Stein was glaring at him angrily.

"Do you have any idea what you've done?" the professor yelled.

"What I've done?" the young man huffed back. "You knocked me out!"

"Which we wouldn't have had to do in the first place if you weren't such a monumental jerk!" Stein hissed.

Jax calmly walked over, placing a hand on the professor's shoulder. "Okay, um, can I just...yeah." He lead the Stein away from the young man and towards Dez and Len.

"Watch him, Sara," Stein huffed, as they past the assassin. He glared at the younger man, as Jax calmly lead him away.

"Yo, you need to calm down," Jax told the professor. "And you need to stop yelling at yourself."

Dez snorted as the pieces came together. That young man must have been Stein's younger self.

Leonard smirked, coming to the same conclusion. "I can already hear the lecture Rip's gonna give," he mumbled to Deserey. She laughed.

"His arrogant, curiosity," Stein growled in annoyance, still glaring at his younger self from across the room.

"Yeah," Jax said. "He's curious and too smart for his own good, but I'm sure you can relate. You're just pissed, because you didn't see it coming sooner, and --"

"That's not it," Stein interrupted, looking at Jax now. "Although, you are correct in observing my ire is self-directed. It's a rude awakening when one realizes that despite decades of what one thought was maturation and experience, you haven't really changed at all."

"Are we supposed to try and help make him feel better?" Deserey wondered. "Because I'm still kind of stuck on my own issues..."

Leonard shrugged. "Dunno. But it's fun to watch."

"That same arrogance I dirtied in my younger self," Stein went on, evidently not noticing Len or Dez, "was on full display at the weapons bazaar. Over sixty years on this planet, and I have nothing to learned nothing."

Deserey thought about his words carefully. What they meant...She wondered if there was actually even one person alive that even remotely liked themselves. Wasn't it just the saddest thing to see everyone wallowing in pain, in self loathing? It was almost like a cancer...

"I think you're being a little too hard on yourself," Jax told Stein. But Dez couldn't help but to feel the words were being directed at her too. (Or maybe she was just being too self absorbed again...) "Which makes a nice change from you always being hard on me, but...Yeah. You're arrogant. But you're also smart, and kind, and selfless."

Jax shrugged. "I mean, you want to make the world a better place, and you're willing to risk everything to make that happen. That?" He nodded at the younger Martin (Dez decided to call him Marty in her head to avoid confusion. The older one would still be Professor Stein), who was walking around the bridge curiously. "That is not a bad guy." Jax looked back at the older Stein. "Neither is this one."

"Daw," Leonard cooed. "How touching."

Stein nodded at Jax, pretending Leonard wasn't there. "Meeting Clarissa was one of the greatest moments of my life, and meeting you was another."

"They're bonding!" Deserey cheered. "So cute!"

Both halves of Firestorm rolled their eyes, like they were finally starting to get annoyed with the commentary. Still, neither said anything to either Dez or Len.

"You are a fine young man, Mr. Jackson," Stein told Jax.

Len and Dez were about to make some more snarky comments, but before they got the chance, Marty walked over. "Can someone please tell me what's going on?" he asked.

Stein looked at Sara. "You didn't say anything to him?"

She shrugged. "I figured we screwed up the '70s enough."

Marty looked back and forth between the assassin and his future self. "What are you talking about? Are you saying that, you're from --"

"Don't say it!" Stein stopped him. "Don't even think it." He handed him the machine he'd been holding this whole time. (Deserey guessed that must have been the tracker he had stolen from himself earlier.) "You are to get off this ship, post haste."

Rip walked into the room, as soon as those words left the professor's lips. He sighed, exasperated.

"Here it comes," Len whispered to Dez.

"Oh, wonderful," Rip said, starting the lecture, "another unauthorized passenger. That worked out so splendidly last time."

"It's alright, he was just leaving," Stein said quickly, hoping to save himself.

"I'll show you out," Jax told Marty. The younger Martin stared at his future self, suspicious. Deserey thought he might have already figured it out in his head, but he needed something to confirm it.

"So," Marty said slowly, "have we met before?"

Stein considered his question for a moment. It was clear he didn't want to give too much away, even though it was just as evident that his younger self had already put the pieces together. "In a manner of speaking...Have a wonderful life, Martin. I mean that sincerely."

Marty stared at him for another moment, probably wanting to ask more questions. (He was a scientist after all.) Sara gave him a small shove towards the exit, before he could, though. Jax lead him out of the room.

"...I'm not even going to ask," Rip mumbled.

Later that night Dez was roaming the halls, her sorrows once again clouding her judgment. She really needed a drink. It was the only way to silence the dark thoughts. (Or at least it would allow her to get the job done without over thinking it.) And she knew exactly who would be able to give her one.

She tiptoed past Sara's room, where she knew both the assassin and Leonard would be. (They'd started playing cards together their first night on the Waverider.) Once Deserey was in the clear, she continued walking briskly until she had reached Mick's door. She knocked, hoping it didn't sound too urgent. She didn't want to do anything to tip him off, as she already had three people knowing about her...issues. She didn't need to risk anyone else's judgment.

Mick answered a few moments later. He had an expression on his face, somewhere between annoyed and curious.

"I need a drink," she told him the second he opened the door. He shrugged, nodded, and went back inside. When he came back out, he had a six pack, which he carried to the kitchen.

She followed him, hoping he didn't care enough to bring up the fact that she'd declined going to the bar with the others earlier due to the fact that she was a lightweight. And, thankfully, he didn't. He just set the beer down on the table in the galley and sat back in one of the chairs, popping a can open for himself.

"Why you need it?" he asked her. She shook her head. "Wait 'till I'm drunk. Then you can murder me. At this point, I don't give a shit."

He shrugged as she grabbed a can. She popped it open before chugging, only stopping when it was halfway empty.

By then her vision was fuzzy. The room spun in three sixties, blurring like a crappy camera filter. She fell out of her chair, giggling uncontrollably.

"And I think now's a good time to ask again," Mick muttered. He got up and helped her back onto her chair.

"Ask what?"

He fought the urge to facepalm. He really should get some backup…But leaving her alone would likely mean she'd fall on a fork or something. So, he yelled down the hall,

"Lenny!"

Dez put her fingers to her lips, "Shh! This is a library! In door voice!" She then crawled onto the table and laid down, her head facing upward at the ceiling. "Wooow!!! There's stars on the roof!!" She hiccuped. "I think that means nap time…"

"Yeah, Mick?" Len said, coming into the room.

"You really are a lightweight," Mick muttered in amazement. He hadn't been able to get drunk once can since he had been ten. He had bad parents.

Deserey giggled, as she tried to stand up again. This resulted in her falling on her face. "Pfft. My legs are jelly. Wobble wobble! Just like the timey wimey. Hehe. That's a Doctor Who...thingy." She laughed.

Len stared at her before turning to Mick. "What the hell did you do to her?" he hissed.

"Jeez, boss. Nothin' she didn't want."

"Dez, is he right?"

"Yep! I wanted to forget you! And I think I did…" She scratched at her head. "I don't know, though. Did I?" She tried standing. "Who are you again?" she asked, stumbling into the counter. "Victor Fries?" She snorted. "Nope...tha-that's the other guy." Her words slurred as she tried to keep talking, laughing like life was just one big joke. She kept stumbling, almost falling again, even though she was just standing there.

Len just stared at her, an almost hurt look on his face. But it was soon gone, and he was cleaing his throat. "Why did you, uh, want to forget me?"

"I don't knoooww," she said, drawing out the last word, as she fell on her ass. "Ow…" Deserey pouted like a child. "Wait...did I hurt my face?" She patted her nose. "Ooh. I hope it's not broken…"

Mick laughed while Len rolled his eyes.

Then Sara decided to waltz right in. Deserey screamed when she saw her, pointing at her wildly. "Ninja!!" she shouted. "Ninja!"

"Uh… what happened to her?" Sara asked, pointing at Deserey, who was currently running around the room waving her hands in the air and screaming, "Ninja! Ninja!"

"Mick got her drunk," Leonard sighed.

Mick shrugged, not looking very sorry about it, even as the assassin and his best friend glared at him harshly. He didn't see why it was such a big deal. She was just having some fun...but of course he didn't know what they knew…

"Hey, Sara?" Deserey asked after a moment. She looked almost… sober, but her next words proved she wasn't. "Do you have any knives left?"

"Okay," Sara said, exasperated. "I'm taking you to lie down." She grabbed her by the shoulders and lead her down the hall. As they left she leaned over to Len, whispering, "Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to gather anything and everything she can use to, you know."

She didn't wait for an answer though, already knowing he probably would, before disappearing around the corner with their drunken, suicidal friend.

Mick stared after them with a confused look before shrugging and drinking another can.

Leonard let out a long, annoyed sigh the way he always did when he thought Mick had screwed up. But Mick just ignored him, watching his partner in crime went around the room, collecting all the knives, forks, and even the spoons.

"Are you having another thing?" Mick asked him. Leonard shook his head before nodding toward the doorway that Deserey had just went through. Mick quickly got the message.

"So…" Mick asked casually. "What's up with you two?"

"Nothing," Leonard said. He stuffed all the sharp objects in his coat pocket, before walking out of the room, searching for anything else Deserey might use to kill herself.

"So… Suicidal or cutting?" Mick asked.

"Both," Len told him. He kept his responses short, memories of his own similar experiences rising to the surface.

"Why?" Mick said, curious for some reason, and Len couldn't help but wonder why.

Leonard shrugged. "Everyone has issues." He leaned over to pick up a plastic bag someone had left laying on the floor. He wasn't sure what it had been for, but he didn't care. All he knew was that it could be used for suffocation. So, he stuffed it in his coat along with the sharp objects.

Mick and Leonard went around the ship, silently, gathering whatever else they thought Dez could use as a tool for suicide. Somewhere along the way, they met Rip.

"What are you doing?"

"Stealing from you," Leonard lied. "We're thieves, after all."

Rip rolled his eyes. After a moment, he connected the dots. He stared at Leonard in surprise.

"She told you two, didn't she?"

"Tell us what?" Len replied, but he had a feeling Rip somehow already knew.

"I...think you know what I mean," the captain said quietly.

Mick squinted at him. "How did you know about it?"

Rip hesitated a moment, wondering if it was his place to say. But...they already knew anyway, so how could it possibly hurt anything? He told them about the way he had found Deserey when he was recruiting the Legends.

The two crooks listened, a little shocked by the story. But neither of them were all that surprised. She had admitted to attempting suicide, after all.

And that was the reason they were picking up all these things, wasn't it? So she couldn't try it again.

Rip walked around with the two thieves, helping them gather the last of anything that could be dangerous to Deserey. When they had finished, they came to a stop in the captain's office. Rip leaned on the wall. "...It probably goes without saying, but we should keep this quiet. I can't imagine that Deserey will want everyone to know."

"Sara does, too," Len added.

Rip nodded. "Then, it will just be us and Sara. No one else, unless Deserey says otherwise."

"Well, we can't really help it if she's dead, so let's focus more on this," Mick said bluntly. Len snorted while the captain rolled his eyes.

Leave it to the arsonist to be brutally blunt.


	13. Crash Landings and New Jackets

When Deserey woke up, she groaned.

She sat up, or tried to, anyway. Her head was pounding, like there was a rave party going on in her skull. She couldn't remember much of what had happened, but from the way her stomach churned she guessed she must have been drinking again.

But when she tried to get up again, she realized why she couldn't.

There were restraints on her wrists again, leading her to believe she was in the Medbay again. And with a quick glance around she saw that that was, in fact, where she was. Deserey groaned, laying her head back on the chair. "Gideon, can you let me up, please?"

"Not on my watch."

Leonard stood above her, and after glancing past him, Deserey realized Rip, Mick, and Sara were behind him. They all had scowls on their faces.

"What is this?" she asked them, scowling right back. "Suicide watch?"

"Pretty much," Sara admitted. "You were drunk off you ass. It's why Mick knows. You pretty much told him."

"...I don't need bodyguards," Deserey told her. She would have folded her arms over herself, but she still couldn't move her arms more than an inch off the armrest of the chair.

"Well, too bad, 'cause you got them," Mick grunted. "I saw Lenny here go through the same thing, and I'm not letting it happen to someone else if I can help it."

Everyone looked surprised at the statement, Rip most of all because he hadn't known Len had depression.

Dez groaned again. "Why do you care? Why do any of you care? You don't even know me. We just met…"

"Can't keep using that excuse," Len told her, speaking for the first time since she had woken up.

Deserey found herself wanting to reply with, "Can too!" but somehow stopped herself, instead choosing to glare at them all.

"We're a team," Sara told her. "And like it or not, we've got your back." The three men nodded in agreement behind her.

"If that were true, you'd just let me die…" Deserey muttered.

Mick coughed awkwardly. He hadn't known it was that bad…

"Well, that's not gonna happen," Rip told her. "So get used to it."

She sighed. "Can I at least get up? This chair is murdering my ass." She shifted uncomfortably to prove her point.

"I don't know if that's a good idea," Sara muttered. Deserey glared at the woman who was supposed to be on her side.

"Why not?" she hissed, annoyed.

"Because we put everything back out while you were asleep," Sara replied.

Deserey rolled her eyes. "Like you're gonna let me go anywhere near anything I could kill myself with."

"Still."

Deserey sighed. It wasn't like she had started out less suicidal. Why was she being locked down now? It felt like she was being held captive for her feelings, for her mental illness. She was a prisoner because of something she couldn't even control.

"Why can't we let her out? She's right, you know. One of us can be around her, and we are allowed to have some trust in her," Leonard said.

Deserey looked up at Len in surprise before remembering. He knew exactly how she felt. He always did. Somehow.

"That's...a good point," Rip nodded slowly.

Sara looked reluctant, but she nodded. Mick looked like he was barely paying attention, lost in his own thoughts.

Rip ordered Gideon to let Deserey out of the restraints. But as soon as she stood up, he gave her a stern look. "If we see you try anything, we'll put you right back in here. Not to make you feel like a prisoner, but none of us want to see you hurting yourself. And if this is the only way to stop you from doing so...then so be it."

Deserey felt sick, but she nodded anyway. Of course, this only angered her hangover, so she fell. She would've hit the floor, except Len, being closest to her and having some of the best reflexes (only beat by Sara, if Sara did), he caught her.

"Argh," she groaned, holding her head, as the mini rave grew more intense. "Hell...I'm never drinking again...probably. Unless I drink myself to death…"

Mick, for some reason, just snorted. When everyone turned to look at him, he shrugged. "I just don't think you can do that," he told her. "I've gotten drunk and been drunk for almost 75% of my life. You just can't die from it. I actually tried to, once."

Now people's expression were shocked. Apparently, she and Len weren't the only suicidal people in the room.

"Well, why isn't he getting stalkers?" Deserey huffed, thinking this was a little unfair.

"Because I didn't ask Sara if she had any knives left," Mick retorted.

Deserey paused, the memory vaguely coming back to her. Damn. She really wasn't subtle when she was drunk… Then again, who was?

"Still," she grumbled.

"Dude, everyone in this room has attempted suicide," Sara pointed out. Len didn't try to deny, Mick had just pointed it out, and she was he one who said it. Rip was the only one who tried to protest, but soon realized that wasn't working.

"When I found him," Rip muttered, barely loud enough for Deserey to hear. "When I found my son, dead in my arms, I tried. I don't know who saved me, or why, but I'm still alive, aren't I?"

"And I actually died," Sara pointed out again.

"So?" Deserey said. She knew it was insensitive and childish, but she was blinded by her annoyance. Why couldn't they just let her die in peace? The mission would go a lot smoother without her, anyway. Sara was an assassin, so she could easily help kill Savage without his knowing what was coming. Leonard could formulate plans within seconds. Mick was just brutal enough to do whatever needed to be done. Ray and Stein were by far the smartest ones on the team, so it was pretty obvious why they were there. Kendra and Carter were the only ones who could actually kill Savage, so they were pretty necessary. And Jax, being half of Firestorm could be useful as well.

But Deserey? All she could do was whine and throw sand around. How was that even remotely helpful? What was she supposed to do? Blind Savage for a few seconds? That was stupid.

"So I know death isn't better," Sara replied with a roll of her eyes.

"Then what is?" Deserey asked miserably. "If life is hell… And death is hell. Then, what's the point of anything?"

"I don't really know," Sara answered honestly.

The group stood silently, each turning over their own sorrows in their mind. After a moment alarms started blaring

The five men and women exchanged looks, before running out of the med bay towards the bridge. Firestorm, Ray, and the two hawks were already there, waiting for them next to the center console.

"What's going on?" Sara asked.

"We are being besieged by another time ship," Gideon informed the team.

"Chronos," Carter guessed.

Rip ran to the console, glancing at the information on the screen at the center of the table. "It would appear so..."

"Well, he's persistent," Deserey muttered.

"What do we do?" Kendra asked.

"Uh...strap in?" Rip said, as he made his way to the pilot's chair. The team immediately moved to do so, plopping down in their chairs. As soon as the last person had lowered the harness over their chest, the ship rumbled, jerking the team from side to side.

Deserey grunted, as she accidentally bit her tongue. She clamped her jaw closed, locking her tongue behind her teeth in the process, hoping she wasn't going to bite it off by the end of this. The ship continued shaking violently, sending her sliding across her seat, in spite of the safety harness around her upper body. At some point, she vaguely recalled, her head banged against the head rest, making her vision a little fuzzy.

"How does he keep finding us?" Ray wondered, clutching onto his harness tightly.

"Doesn't matter. Shouldn't we be firing back?" Len asked, holding his arm rests.

"Gideon?" Rip said.

The Waverider shuddered, as missiles fired from the under belly of the ship. The missiles flew through the air, heading for the opposing time vessel.

Chronos fired his own missiles back at the Waverider, hitting them hard. The Waverider shook, rattling all of its occupants. Wires fell from them ceiling again, and sparks flew across the room. The Legends jumped, startled.

The Waverider whipped around, firing blue lasers at Chronos's ship. He fired back with his own, green, lasers, once again reminding Dez of Star Wars. (Whoever had made the Time Masters' technology must have been a huge George Lucas fan, Deserey guessed.) Chronos fired another missile, hitting the Waverider hard. The Legends' time ship shuddered and groaned loudly.

Deserey felt her head rattle, and she felt a wave of nausea, as the Waverider lurched to the left, before skyrocketing into the clouds.

"You do realize the oxygen is thinner up here?" Leonard said. Deserey wondered how he managed to keep talking without biting his tongue off. She could hardly keep herself from moving around on the seat, never mind talking without hurting herself.

Rip ignored the ice villain, though. He kept his gaze locked on the sky just outside the window, his hand placed on the lever on his chair's arm rest. Deserey shivered, as the atmosphere grew colder around them. Sara and Kendra held on to their harnesses, shuddering in the cold. Carter and Jax were making faces, as the ship continued shaking violently. Mick was scowling. The only one who looked remotely comfortable was Len, but Dez could tell even he was a bit chilly and irritable.

Deserey groaned, her vision swimming. Her stomach was tying itself into knots, as the ship flew higher and higher into the sky. The air got colder and colder, the farther they went, making Deserey groan even louder. She'd never really liked the cold much, especially the suffocate and crush your lungs in deep space kind. Dez liked warm, sunny places where her mind could wonder and her creativity could flow easily. Her life was already dreary enough, she didn't the whether dragging her down, tensing up her muscles and making it difficult to do anything.

Luckily, the Legends were only subjected to this state for a few minutes. As soon as the Waverider was completely hidden among the clouds, the familiar orange glow surrounded the time ship, burning like a camp fire. In a burst of speed, the Waverider disappeared into the sky, narrowly avoiding another one of Chronos's attacks with a last minute time jump.

The Waverider touched down in the center of a small meadow, just like it had in the '70s. Though this time their surroundings were slightly different. In the distance, the Legends could see white picket fences and fancy houses, like something straight out of a magazine - tall two storey buildings with large balconies and huge bay windows... Except it was a little hard to appreciate the beauty, considering the Waverider's rough landing.

The ship slammed into the ground, skidding across the yard for several feet, before finally coming to a stop. Deserey felt her teeth rattling, as she smacked her head on the head rest again. By the time the Waverider finally stilled, her whole body ached. Her jaw was sore from clenching it so tightly throughout Chronos' attack; her hands were stiff from clutching onto her harness strap for so long.

Deserey lifted her harness over her head. The buzzing she had felt on their first time jump was back, and her vision was blurred. It was as though a film had been placed over her eyes, causing everything to transform into giant blobs of multiple colors. At first, Deserey wanted to freak out, but then she remembered what Rip had told Stein about his blindness on their first jump. It was only temporary; it would pass after a moment or two. Damn time travel side effects.

"I'm not the only one who's vision is blurry in the left eye, am I?" Stein asked.

Deserey scoffed. "Nope. Mine's blurry in both my eyes."

"Yeah," Jax said, "and seeing three of everything? That's normal right?"

Deserey blinked, as the blobs in her eyes began clearing up, slowly forming concrete images. She could see Rip standing up from his chair, facing the team seriously. "As I've expressed, the effect of time travel on the human body increases with the length of each jaunt."

"So, where are we?" Kendra asked, sitting up.

Rip walked over to the table at the center of the room. He glanced at the screen, before turning back to the hawk warrior. "Harmony Falls, Oregon."

"Are you sure it's not Gravity Falls?" Deserey asked.

"What?" Carter asked, giving her a questioning look.

She shrugged. "I don't just watch adult cartoons, you know!"

As she was saying that, a large spark of electricity erupted from the back of the room. Deserey jumped, shrieking at the sound.

"If it were up to me, they would revoke your pilot's license," Stein said, rolling his eyes at the captain.

"'They' are more than welcome to," Rip said, "considering I don't have one."

Dez scoffed. "And we're letting you get behind the wheel?"

"Actually, Miss Dunet, I do most of the flying," Gideon told her.

"So, we should revoke Gideon's pilot's license?" Sara asked.

"Well, you could but then you wouldn't be going anywhere, would you?" the AI sassed.

"Ooh. Snippy," Deserey grinned.

Rip sighed, already looking very exasperated. This was a very stressful way to start a morning. First one of his crew members gets drunk off their ass, then Chronos nearly blasts them out of the bloody sky! "Gideon, what's out status?"

"When Chronos attacked, the jumpship was damaged," Gideon responded. "Unless you make repairs, we will be unable to -"

"Wait, wait," Jax said, frowning in confusion. "Jumpship?"

A blue, holographic image appeared above the screen of the table. It was a 3D model of the Waverider, an orange line pointing to where the damage on the ship was. (Which Deserey knew, because, above the orange line, was the word damage written in the same color.)

"It's a a small expeditionary vessel located at the belly of the Waverider," Rip explained. He stared at the hologram thoughtfully for a moment, like he was wondering how he could get away with not doing any more work on the ship himself. After a moment, his eyes lit up, as though he'd just gotten a brilliant idea. Rip pointed at Jax excitedly. "You're a mechanic! You have a look at it."

Jax scoffed. He looked around the room at the others, an incredulous look on his face, like can you believe this guy? "Auto mechanic," Jax reminded the captain. He gestured around him, like his surroundings were some amazing foreign ground. (Which they kind of were.) "Space ship."

Rip stared back at him, unblinking. He didn't seem to be even remotely bothered by what Jax was trying to say. The captain was clearly not going to take no for an answer.

Jax rolled his eyes, relenting. "Okay," he said, "if you've got a set of wrenches, I'll see what I can do."

Rip grinned cheekily. Mick folded his arms, glaring at the captain curiously.

"What about the rest of us?" the arsonist asked. "Do we just...sit?"

"Capital idea, Mr. Rory," Rip said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "You're not nearly as thick as everyone says."

Deserey snorted, leaning back in her chair. "There's a lot of sass going on today."

Rip shrugged her comment off, walking into his office and sitting at the desk, like a real boss. Jax walked off to find the jump ship, taking the professor with him.

"Thick," Mick muttered to himself. "Does that mean stupid?"

Deserey chuckled to herself, as she stood up, stretching, before walking out of the room. She paused in the hall, waiting to see who her stalker (or stalkers) of the day would be. The thieves exchanged looks with the assassin, before nodding at one another. Sara followed Rip into his office, and the two crooks followed Dez. She glanced around the room at the hawks and Ray, but none of them seemed to think the behavior strange, so she shrugged it off.

Deserey headed down the halls, walking towards the fabrication room.

"Why are we here?" Mick asked, as they came into the room. "We don't need any disguises, if we're just sitting around."

"We're not here to get disguises," Deserey said. She walked over to the screen, tapping some icons on it with her index finger. "I'm making you a new jacket."

Mick blinked, like he wasn't sure he'd heard her right. "Why?"

She gestured at the thick, dark brown one he was currently wearing. It was burnt all over. The arms were singed, and the pockets were torn to shreds. Mick had been wearing it since they'd boarded the Waverider. "I'm tired of looking at that old thing. It's gross."

The arsonist stared back at her, looking completely baffled by her statement. He glanced at Leonard, who was leaning against the wall, smirking amusedly. Deserey turned back to the screen, pressing more buttons. Her tongue was sticking out, as she concentrated on her art work. (It was a different form of art than she was use to, so it took more concentration than usual.) Every now and again she'd steal glances at Mick, trying to decide what would suit him better.

"Clothes," she explained as she worked, "tell a lot about a person. For instance, if a person wears a lot of bright colors and sparkly objects, they're probably pretty confident and happy. Darker colors mean they're probably one of those dark, brooding people. Someone with nice, ironed clothes probably has their shit together. Someone with dirty clothes with holes all over, is either really lazy or really...all over the place." Deserey scowled at Mick's jacket again. "And clothes shouldn't lie."

She scrolled through the colors on the screen, as the jacket she'd made slowly came together, virtually. "White indicates simplicity, precision and goodness. Blue indicates freshness, peace, and loyalty. People who like blue are also usually witty and sarcastic. Navy blue gives people a sense that you're in control."

As she said this last sentence, she became very aware of the fact that Leonard was currently wearing a navy blue parka. It occurred to her that she had never really seen him take his jacket off either. He'd been wearing it, even though it was a thick winter jacket and it had been in the middle of January, when Rip had gotten them. (All the snow had melted earlier that month. It wasn't even remotely cold.) She guessed that must have been the reason he wore it so often, to look in control. Though, whether or not the decision was a conscious one she had no idea.

"Green is...rigid...but also calming and easy on the eyes..." Deserey went on. Though this time it was more to herself than the two men. She stared at the different shades of green, sliding over to some of the slightly lighter ones. Deserey played around with the colors, fully aware that the two men were watching her intently. She finally settled on a color, when she found a nice, navy green.

Dez skipped over to one of the drawers, withdrawing a tape measure. Len eyed her, as she walked over to Mick. "You're in a better mood," he noted.

"Must be a good day," Deserey muttered back, as she wrapped the tape measure around Mick's arm. She wrote down the measurement, before moving on to his second arm and then his waist.

He was standing stalk still, like he still hadn't quite grasped what was going on yet. (Though, Dez guessed it was more likely that he was trying to figure out why it was happening rather than what was happening. She was pretty sure she'd made her intentions clear about making him a jacket.) She was glad for the bewildered state, because she got the feeling he wouldn't have let her casually take his jacket measurements otherwise.

When she had all of it written down, Deserey waltzed back over to the screen, punching the numbers in on the keypad, before hitting the big red button that said knit!

A blue light flickered over the manikin in the corner, a white laser whooshing over it. In an instant, Mick's new jacket materialized, slowly coming together like a picture being distributed from a printer. The laser moved up the manikin inch by inch, until it had finally reached the head of the statue. As it did so the fabric stitched itself together, appearing from seemingly no where and coming together like magic. When the last stich had settled itself into place, the light switched off.

Deserey grinned at her handy work. (Well, Gideon's handy work. Her design.) The navy green jacket was much better than the filthy brown one Mick had before. It was slightly smaller and more comfortable looking. The new jacket seemed to fit a lot better, too. (Deserey made Mick try it on.)

"Perfect," Deserey nodded at the old jacket. "Now...you can just kill that other one with fire or something. I don't care, but I don't want to see it again."

"...Sure," Mick said, looking a little awkward. Deserey couldn't tell if he liked the new jacket or not. She could tell no one had bothered to care about his clothes before, but Deserey refused to sit around and let people wear ugly clothes. (Or maybe that was the mom in her, longing to dress someone up. Something about motherhood really made a gal want to doll everything up, at least when it came to her kids, anyway.) Still, she hoped she hadn't over stepped somehow. It would be a shame to lose one of the few people who understood her mental issues...

After a moment, the awkwardness faded from the arsonist's face, and Deserey relaxed. And he didn't shove the new jacket in her face, so she assumed it was safe to say he probably liked it.

* * *

 **Kind of an awkward place to stop, I know.**

 **I took some dialogue and stuff from different episodes, so there was a lot of going back and forth. So, I hope y'all appreciate the hard work I've put into this chapter!**

 **You'll also notice that I am skipping a head a bit to where the Legends go to the '50s, but don't worry I'll go back to Russia and all that later. I have plans.**

 **That's all for now,**

 **Toodles!**

 **~ Elsie**


	14. Killer Hawk

The Legends stood around the wet lawn, a patch of dirt in front of them where they had just buried Professor Boardman.Kendra and Carter were standing next to the makeshift headstone, holding hands and looking down solemnly.

Deserey watched them quietly. She was trying to wrap her head around their situation, but the truth was she couldn't possibly fathom it. How could she, when she refused to imagine her own son's death? Hell, she refused to accept that anything could ever harm him, never mind kill him. Deserey didn't want to hear or see her kids hurt, ever. Even if it was just in her mind's eye.

The only one who could remotely understand was Rip, seeing as how he had actually lost his son. He had actually held his child in his arms and watched him die...

Deserey glanced over at the captain. He didn't look back at her, though. Instead, he kept his eyes downcast at the ground beneath his feet. She wondered if he was blaming himself for this other kid's death. (Even though he was technically an old man.) Sara was playing with her nails gingerly. Ray and Jax were huddled together in the back. It was weird, the way the loss of a perfect stranger could move so many people.

The hawks turned around after a moment, ready to head back to the Waverider. But, like on all dangerous missions, an ugly monster attacked. It came from out of no where, swooping past in a gray blur, knocking the hawks off their feet.

"What the heck was that thing?" Jax shouted, eyes wide with surprise.

"Uh, a speedster?" Ray guessed.

Another gray blur whizzed by, startling Dez. Leonard looked around calmly, hand placed on his cold gun. "Doesn't feel like it," he muttered.

Deserey whipped her head to the side, watching as yet another blur whooshed past her. She shoved her hand in her sand bag, her nerves going rigged. So far, she had survived two battles, but that had only been because she'd gotten lucky... She really hoped she hadn't run out of luck.

A loud screech brought Deserey's attention to the sky. She gasped at what she saw. It was a monster, pulled straight out of a Stephen King novel. The thing had pale, grey skin, leathery like an old lady's purse. Dark, beady eyes pierced Deserey like a knife. It had razer sharp teeth poking out from its mouth and thin strands of hair on top of its ugly, mishapped head. For finger nails the creature had long talons, dripping with a red liquid. Deserey's legs buckled from underneath her, as she realized the substance was blood. Human blood.

The creature was being suspended in mid air by a pair of dark brown wings, caked in mud. Deserey glanced around at her team mates, worried that she might be seeing things, but fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how one looked at it) they all appeared to be just as freaked as she was.

With another ear drum shattering cry, the beast swooped down, flapping its wings wildly. As the creature dived for Sara, eight more beasts just like it appeared, flying at the other Legends.

"Get back to the ship!" Rip yelled. The Legends didn't hesitate. Len fired an icy blast at one of the creatures, sending it flying across the grass. Kendra smacked another one back, as she and Carter bolted for the time ship. Once everyone was behind her, Deserey tossed her fistful of sand in the air, blinding the creatures, making them squeal. Then, she turned, bolting into the Waverider and closing the cargo bay door behind her.

"Hawk things," Mick grunted, as the team hurried for the bridge.

"That's a new one," Len nodded. He walked over to the console, leaning on the table, as he stared out the window with a scowl. The hawk creatures were swarming them from the outside, but they weren't attacking the ship. Deserey guessed they didn't see it, because the Waverider was cloaked.

Sara flopped down in one of the time jump chairs. She looked at Kendra and Carter curiously. "They kind of look like you two," she said. "Except more ugly."

Kendra leaned on the wall, arms folded over her chest. "Yeah, that's not disturbing at all."

Deserey grinned to herself. "This place really is Gravity Falls!"

Everyone gave her a look, and she frowned. "What?" she asked. "Don't judge me!"

Rip walked over to the monitor hanging on the wall, a very serious expression on his face. "According to Professor Boardman's intel, Savage makes an appearance in this guaint little hamlet."

On the screen there was a black and white image of a small town -- Harmony Falls. It looked like one of those stupid happy-go-lucky places from magazines, trying to paint the perfect little image. Old fashioned cars were parked on the side of the street, windows down, like the owners weren't the least bit worried about someone stealing and/or vandalizing their property. (Deserey couldn't help but to think that these people would be easy pray for Mick and Len.)

Jax made a face. "What the hell is Savage doing in Pleasantville?"

A news paper article took place of the Harmony Falls image on the screen. Rip skimmed it over quickly, frowning with concern when he was finished. "Murder, apparently." The captain turned to look at the team. "Several denizens of Harmony Falls have been brutally slain, and others have gone missing."

"Huh, kind of like Rory," Jax muttered. The arsonist didn't seem to pick up on the jab, but Leonard slowly turned his head, glaring at the younger man.

Rip ignored the comment too, turning back to the news article on the monitor. "Reports are vague, but it seems like the killer is an expert with knives."

"Or," Sara said, as she got to her feet. "They have big claws."

"Like our feathery friends out there," Len said, nodding at the swarm of hawk things, as they flew away. (Apparently they had gotten bored of waiting for the Legends to come outside again and decided to leave.)

"So, someone has gone all Frankenstein on us?" Deserey guessed. "Kidnapping people, turning them into weirdo hawk people?" She glanced at Kendra and Carter. "No offense..."

The two shrugged, like it was no big deal. Ray frowned, tapping his chin curiously. "Savage probably. But why would he make a bunch of hawk clones? Serial killing sounds kind of small time for a guy who's had coffee with Hitler."

"Yeah," Rip shrugged. "Well, clearly we have to assume that Savage has a larger, more nefarious plan." He turned around again, facing the team once more. "But since we've jumped back in time, Savage isn't expecting us here."

"Savage is pretty good at hiding, even in a small town," Kendra informed.

Carter nodded in agreement. "If he doesn't want to be found, it's not likely that we will find him."

Deserey shrugged. "We found him in the seventies pretty easily."

"Yes, and that turned out to be a disaster," Rip muttered.

"So, how do you plan on finding him?" Kendra asked, hoping to avoid another scolding from the captain.

Rip met the rest of the team at the console in the center of the room, leaning on the table with both his hands. "By investigating these murders."

Deserey leaned on the table, propping herself up with her elbows. "And?"

Rip glanced at her, looking confused. He clearly had no idea what she was wanting him to add.

"Monster hunt?" she supplied.

Rip sighed, as the idea became clear to him. "Fine, but only because we need to figure out why Savage would create these creatures in the first place."

Deserey cheered to herself. Rip, Sara, Len, and Mick eyed her, each having their own curious expressions. It was obvious that she was feeling much better now... Or at least she was acting like it.

"I've always wanted to go on a monster hunt," Deserey grinned. "I just didn't think they were real."

Sara smirked, happy to see her smiling again. It was hard to watch someone drown in their sorrows, knowing there was nothing you could do to make it any better.

"Now," Rip continued, "there must be a common link between each of the victims, starting with the first. A piano teacher was found slain in her home, which is now on the market." He nodded at the two hawks. "Miss Saunders, Mr. Hall, you two can infiltrate the place."

The couple nodded curtly, before promptly leaving the room to get changed for their latest mission. Meanwhile, Rip went on with his instructions. "Dr. Matt Miller was murdered on the grounds of the asylum where he worked."

"That's the name of some guy in a video game about gangsters," Deserey said, sprouting useless information. "The game is called Saints Row."

Rip ignored her and kept going, like she hadn't said anything. "They'll need a replacement." He nodded at Stein. "Which you will be providing." He nodded at Sara next. "And you will be acting as his nurse." The two nodded, following the hawks out of the room.

"Meanwhile, Jefferson is the perfect age to discern the facts behind the disappearance of three teenagers who went missing a week before these murders began."

"So I'm the new kid in town," Jax nodded. "Got it." He walked off, leaving to get changed like the others had before him.

Rip turned to the four remaining Legends on the bridge. "And the rest of us --"

"We're going monster huntin'!" Dez finished.


	15. Dez and Ray Fangirl About Sanders Sides

The small group of five carefully trudged through the woods. They stepped over the small limbs that had fallen from the trees. The leaves crunched underneath their boots, and occasionally they had to reach up to push some of the greenery away so that they could pass.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Leonard asked.

Deserey shrugged. "A journal hidden in the trees?"

Leonard raised an eyebrow at her, clearly not understanding her reference to Gravity Falls.

She smirked walking forward. So far, today had been much better than the previous night. Deserey figured Leonard, Mick, and Rip were probably thinking their troubles were over. That her suicidal thoughts, her depression was long gone. That maybe it was just a one time thing.

But she also knew that it was never a one time thing. It always came back, just like a boomerang. It didn't matter how hard or far she threw it, it always came back. One day she would be on the verge of offing herself, unable to move, not even to eat or shower. All she could do was lay and bed, cry, and sleep. She'd feel useless, hate herself. Sometimes she would even try to kill herself.

Then, the next she would be perfectly fine again. Numb, mostly, but fine. She would get up, go to work, run through the motions like everyone else; she might spend the day longing to climb back into her bed and sleep for ten years, but she would be fine. Sometimes, she even managed to smile and joke around, like she was now.

This was why most people assumed she was just faking it for attention. In their minds depression was nothing more than a constant sadness. An emotion. But that's not how it worked. You had good days and bad days. Sometimes you can deny that anything was wrong, that you were normal, happy even. Then, when the bad days struck, you realized just how alone and afraid you really are. Though, Deserey never really blamed people for their ignorance. You couldn't possibly understand such things until you've experienced them first hand.

Rip ducked under a tree limb, letting out a small, thoughtful hum. "Well it's no journal but..." He nodded to a crater that had been formed.

It was a hole, ten feet wide all around. Deserey couldn't tell how deep it was, but she guessed it had to at least be a foot. The group stepped closer, careful not to trip and fall inside.

Below, in the center of the crater, was a massive, black rock the size of a boulder. There was an odd, blue substance glowing upon its surface, like maybe it was something out of this world. "So...aliens, right?" Deserey guessed. "That's what's causing all these monsters?"

"Or Savage is using their technology to create them, at least," Ray said. "Well...probably. I mean, I'm just guessing that he has something to do with it. I guess we won't know for sure until --"

"Logan and the others figure out the connection between the vics?" Deserey interrupted.

The men looked at her for moment, frowning in confusion, before they realized she was talking about Stein. Ray nodded. "It's actually Martin, but -- Wait. Do you mean Logic?"

Deserey grinned. "I didn't think you were gonna get it."

Ray smiled a big broad, dorky smile. "That actually makes a lot of sense." He frowned curiously for a second. "I wonder if he likes Crofters."

Deserey clapped her hands in excitement, startling Leonard and Rip. "We have to get him to eat it. If we do anything on this mission. We have to do that!"

"Definitely," Ray agreed. "But wait. If Stein is Logan then who's the other three?"

Deserey leaned on the nearest tree, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Well, I'm Roman, of course, because I like art. You're Patton. Obviously. Not sure about Virgil though..."

Ray gave her a curious look. "Wait why am I 'obviously' Patton? You have way more dad jokes than I do. Plus, you like cartoons."

Deserey nodded, pointed at him. "That's true. I do." She stared at the ground, unaware that Len, Mick, and Rip were staring, perplexed. "Okay. Maybe I'm Patton? And Sara's Roman?"

Ray shrugged. "She does have a sword..."

"Yeah," Deserey nodded. "But I don't think she's really the Disney type. And honestly, I don't think you're the Virgil type. Something about you just screams Morality..."

Mick raised an eyebrow at them, like he might be questioning their sanity. "What the hell are you two talking about?"

Ray turned to look at him, grinning sheepishly, like he had only just remembered the other three were still there. Deserey couldn't blame him, though. She had almost forgotten about them herself. "Thomas Sanders," Ray explained. "Sanders Sides."

Leonard stared back and forth between the two, looking a little annoyed. "Is that supposed to clear anything up?"

"Sure is, Kiddo!" Deserey said, giving him the biggest grin she could muster up.

Ray gestured at her, going back to their previous conversation. "See. You even have the kiddo thing down to a T."

Dez frowned, thoughtfully. "Can we both be Patton?"

Ray shrugged, looking uncertain. "Eh, not unless one of us are Deceit."

"Which is probably me," Deserey noted. "I'm a parent. All parents lie at least three times."

"How so?" Ray asked.

Deserey held up her hand, flicking out another finger as she listed of the three lies that almost every parent told their kids. "Easter Bunny, Santa Clause, Tooth Fairy."

"Oh," Ray nodded. "That's a good point. Also, Kant says that it's always wrong to lie!" He put on a goofy accent and huge grin as he spoke that last sentence.

"Except for sometimes!" Dez said, using that same accent and weird grin.

"...Anyway," Rip said, turning to look at the rock at the center of the crater. "We should figure out what exactly this is."

Deserey looked at him, giving him her best devious grin. "Well I don't know, Thomas," she said darkly, making everyone glance at her weirdly, "you might not like what you find."

Rip stared at her, clearly very concerned. Maybe he even thought she had lost it from all her anxiety earlier. He glanced at Mick and Leonard accusingly. "What did you give them?"

"Don't look at us," Leonard said. "It's the Professor who drugs people."

Ray seemed to be the only one who understood the meaning behind her words, as he grinned back at Dez brightly. "You do a good Deceit, too!"

"Thanks, Kiddo!" Dez grinned back.

"So, Patton," Ray said, "now that you're here, why don't you tell us your a opinion on lying?"

"Oh! Lying is always bad!" Deserey nodded.

Rip rolled his eyes at them. Mick stared at them, looking very annoyed but also mildly amused at the randomness. Leonard just sighed, "Can we just get this done already? Or are you two just gonna stand there talking nonsense?"

"Yeah, yeah," Deserey nodded. "We can start with Some Day My Prince will Come!"

Leonard frowned. "What?"

Ray started singing. "Sooome --"

Dez interrupted with a very different song. "Body once told me the world was gonna rule me!"

Dez and Ray continued together. "I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed!"

Rip shot them a very annoyed look. "Do I have to send you two back to the ship?"

Deserey grinned, as she and Ray tried to contain their laughter. "Nope. Sorry."

He shook his head and started to make his way down the crater. The two crooks followed him, while Dez and Ray continued goofing off.

"What ass," Ray said. He waited until everyone stared at him, stunned, to finish the word, "et to your personality!"

"I didn't know you made jokes like that," Deserey told him.

"Jokes like what?" Ray asked, looking confused for a moment before the pair broke out into a fit of laughter.

Leonard scoffed at them. But he was secretly glad Deserey was having a good time. It was a nice change from the way she had been acting a few hours earlier.

He turned back to Rip and Mick. The captain was examining the boulder, doing his best not to let Deserey and Ray distract him with their loud laughter. Mick was just lazily standing around, probably wondering what the trees would look like if he lit them all on fire. (He had a real problem with setting things on fire. Most people never really got passed it, but Leonard had just learnt to deal with it over the years.)

Rip took a small, glass vile from his coat pocket. Leonard frowned at the sight, wondering just how many random things their captain kept in his pockets. There was really no reason for it unless he was a horder or a thief. (And since the Waverider looked pretty tidy, Leonard was leaning towards the latter. Still, the idea took Len by surprise. He didn't think the captain was the type. Then again, everyone had a rebellious side, he supposed.)

The two crooks watched, as Rip drug the vile over the rock, gathering some of the blue liquid on its surface into the glass container. Once there was a good amount inside the container, the captain stood up right, looking back at the rest of them. "Alright. That should do. Let's get back to the ship and see if Gideon can identify this."

"Allonsy, Alonso!" Deserey shouted.

"So we're on Doctor Who now? Okay, cool," Ray nodded. The two ran off, leaving the other three to struggle getting out of the crater.


	16. Mission for Sand and Puns

Deserey and Ray had calmed down by the time they had gotten back to the ship, fortunately for their three companions. Rip had also called the rest of the team back to the ship to regroup while Gideon analysed the goop from the meteorite the five had found, which allowed the hyper duo a bit more time to recollect themselves.

It wasn't long before the five of them could hear Sara, Jax, and Stein returning. The trio seemed to be in the midst of a disagreement, as they entered the bridge.

"Seeing white picket fences and perfect houses," Stein was saying, "it's enough to make one nostalgic." He was dressed in a fancy tailored suit, along with a black neck tie and a name tag tangling from his shirt collar. His hair was neatly combed, unlike any other time before. (At least there was one good thing about the fifties, right? It got the professor to comb his unruly grey hair.)

"Or nauseated," Sara scoffed. She leaned on the back of one of the chairs. The assassin's blond hair was pinned up in one of those old nurses hats, the kind that were a little more square than normal hats. Her white nurses gown was a little too snug in some places and a bit too short in other places. It looked more like a slutty Halloween costume than a proper uniform. (The sort that Deserey would never let her daughter wear in a million years.) When the skirt rose up, Sara scowled and tugged it down again. She didn't strike Deserey as the conservative type when it came to clothing, but Dez guessed it must have been pretty irritating to work with that small ass thing.

"Oh come on, Miss Lance," Stein said, folding his arms. "Even someone as jaded as yourself can't deny how idyllic this time is."

Jax made a face, as he took a seat in the chair Sara was leaning on. He was dressed in more casual clothing, but Deserey still thought the outfit was pretty ugly. White slacks, holy jeans, a very, very loud and orange shirt. "Yeah," he muttered, "if you're white."

Deserey nodded in agreement, but she didn't say anything. She figured it was best for everyone if she stayed out of conversations like these. Every time she engaged in something like this she went flying off the handle in a red hot rage. (Vaguely, she wondered who could throw worse temper tantrums. Her or Heatwave?) Curses would be sworn. F bombs would be dropped. Asses would be kicked. Nothing angered her more than discrimination and ignorant morons. She hated mistreatment. Not even just towards minorities like herself, Sara, and Jax. Towards anyone. (Why were they called minorities anyway? Were they really that less than? Maybe Deserey but Jax and Sara?) It wasn't right. Wasn't fair. And no one seemed to give a damn about it. Why couldn't people just be people and be left alone?

Feeling her blood boil at the mere thought, Deserey mentally smacked the mosquito that was her depression away. She had only just gotten out of her bad mood from the night before. She didn't need to go falling in again. Not just now anyway. Not with everyone standing here.

Today is a good day, she reminded herself. Today is a good day.

It was something she had learned to do over the years from one of the many therapists she had gone to see. Something about chanting positive things to yourself was suppose to help. Trick your brain into thinking your in a good mood or something. It didn't always help, but sometimes Deserey found herself trying anyway.

"And straight," Sara added. "And male. And --"

Deserey groaned inwardly. She wished that they would just shut up about it already. The 1950s was a terrible place for anyone who didn't fit the mold society had created for them. That's the way it had always been and always would be through out history. End of story. Did it really need a discussion? There was no point in bitching and moaning about all the thing that were wrong in the world, because they would never ever change. (Deserey knew that sounded pretty hypocritical, considering she spent a great deal of her time whining about her problems, but she didn't really care at the moment.)

Stein cut her off with a wave of his hand, frowning deeply. "Yes," he admitted. "I see you're point..."

Jax shrugged. "Even if this town wasn't full of small minded idiots, it would still be creepy as hell." He looked around the room, glancing at the other seriously. "I use to watch these movies with my mom, and they all started out in places like this. First, it's all perfect and then, boom!" He moved his hands in an outward motion for dramatics. "Some alien monster beast, like those hawk things, start killing people on lovers lane."

Deserey shrugged, happy for the change of topic. She pushed off the class wall of the parlour, where she had been standing, and walked over to meet the trio at the center of the room. "You actually might not be that far off, Jax," she said. "We found an alien thingy in the woods that might be the cause of these hawk people."

Jax gestured at her, like she had just proven his point. Sara made a cooing noise, teasing the youngster.

"Anyway," Leonard said, already sounding bored. "What did you losers find?"

"Losers?" Sara huffed.

"Losers," he nodded.

She rolled her eyes, before encountering her adventures at the asylum. "Stein and I found some files that might help connect the dots."

Jax stood up, informing everyone of his own adventures. "I ran into one of the teens from the accident, Betty, at a diner. I'm going out with her tonight to see if she knows anything."

Sara snapped her fingers, remembering something else. "Also, one of the nurses gave me a tour. She seemed to be afraid of Dr. Nox's secret ward, Hall H. Which is where, I'm guessing, Savage is conducting his little experiments."

Ray sat forward, looking intrigued now. "So, we know for a fact that it's Savage doing the experiments, now?"

Sara nodded curtly. "Well, I saw a picture with his face on it, so I'm pretty sure he's behind all this. He's --"

"Dr. Nox," Kendra interrupted, as she and Carter entered the room. She smiled sheepishly, as everyone turned to look at her, surprised. Deserey was about to ask how she knew that, when she hurriedly continued, "Sorry, I heard you talking from down the hall. Anyway, turns out Savage is our new neighbor."

"That's...awkward," Deserey mumbled. Jax nodded in agreement. Rip nodded to the parlour, before slowly moving into the little office. Everyone followed him inside, except for Mick, who leaned in the doorway, beer in hand. Deserey frowned at the sight. How was he always able to sneak off to get food and come back without her noticing? He was like a ninja or something.

Kendra stood with her back to the wall, playing with her frilly, pink skirt awkwardly. "Savage didn't seem to recognize us, which means he won't try to kill us."

Sara stole Rip's chair, and Deserey sat in her lap, leaving the captain to stand next to them, as they listened to the hawks' part of the story. The two soul mates explained how they had moved in with ease (other than the small minded real state agent). They were just taking a look around the house, when Savage (or Curtis Nox, as he was known here) showed up at their door, inviting them to a party, which Dez found to be both polite and suspicious.

Carter nodded in agreement. The fifties tux oddly suited him well, making him look neat and tidy. "He can't steal our powers before we've discovered them," he added.

Rip nodded, moving to stand by the little decorative table at the center of the office. "Savage is going to be busy with this little cocktail party." He glanced over at Carter and Kendra. "Whilst you two investigate, Sara and Professor Stein will look into what exactly Savage is doing in his restricted ward. Perhaps, you can figure out how he is using this substance to create these...hawk people."

"Which, by the way, Captain, I have just finished analyzing," Gideon spoke up, her voice ringing throughout the speakers over head. "It appears the substance from the meteorite hails from the planet Thanagar."

"Thanagar?" Carter asked, frowning curiously, like the word made any sense what so ever.

Deserey blinked. "So it really was aliens? Wow. Okay." She nodded slowly, trying to get her head around that. "I'm still getting use to metas and time travel. Seriously. What's next? The multi verse?"

Stein cleared his throat awkward. He fiddled with his glasses for a moment, before speaking. "Actually --"

Dez cut him off with a scoff. She stared at him with wide eyes. "I was joking!" she yelped. "Are you for real?"

The professor nodded. "Yes, I am 'for real'." he told her, making air quotes as he mocked her last sentence. "In fact, the Harrison Wells we met at Star Labs was actually from Earth Two."

Deserey shook her head in wonderment. "Wow...Just...wow..."

Later that evening, when the hawks had left for the party with their serial killer and Sara and the Professor had gone for their stake out and Jax had prepared for his fake out make out, Deserey found herself sitting in her room. She had just gotten out of the shower, so she had a towel wrapped over her head, but she had slipped on some comfy pajamas. It was strange, the way the water made her feel at ease. Maybe that's why she had always found such solace at the beach. (At least she had before the Particle Accelerator ruined it for her...)

Deserey eyed the sketch pad sitting on her nightstand next to her bed. She hadn't touched the thing since she had boarded the Waverider. Carefully, Dez picked it up, along with a pencil. Slowly, she flipped through the pages, smiling when she past the ones with the Legends and her family. When she found an empty page, she began to draw.

She started with the basic outline -- the sun, the horizon, clouds. Then she added a few lines in the sky, indicating the birds flying through the air. She drew the lines of the sand, adding an umbrella and a few trees on its surface; after that came the detailing and shading. The whole thing took, at least, five hours. The pencil lead had gotten her fingers messy again, but she didn't mind very much.

Deserey kept erasing and redrawing every detail of the picture, until she was satisfied with the way that it looked. (And satisfaction seemed to be an impossible feet.) She probably would have been at the sketch pad for the rest of the night, if she hadn't heard Ray knocking at her door. (And she knew it was Ray, because he was the only one left on the ship who was polite enough to knock.)

"It's open," she called out to him, stretching as she sat up. Her body was stiff from being hunched over for the past five hours. She cringed, moving her neck and shoulders around, as Ray stepped into the room.

He grinned, as she rolled her shoulders a few times before setting the sketch pad off to the side. She stood, finally, taking the towel off her head, her hair being thoroughly dry after all that time. "Hey," he said. "Sorry to bother you. I just wanted to let you know that Cisco sent the design for your suit, so now all we have to do is have Gideon fabricate it."

"Really?" Deserey said. "That was fast." She hadn't been expecting to get the results back that soon. It had only been two days after all.

Ray shrugged. "Fast is kind of the only way they do things at Star Labs."

Deserey snorted. "I bet the speed puns are non stop too, huh?"

"Uh, kinda," Ray admitted. "One time Felicity and I -- Felicity is my ex, by the way -- went over there to help them with this bee problem..." He trailed off, frowning thoughtfully, before contiuing in rambles. "Well, actually we went over there to see if they could help me fix the Atom suit. It was still in the early stages, and I was having trouble keeping it up in the air. And the bees weren't really bees. They were robots. Which were being controlled by a crazy meta chick. Who apparently liked bees."

She stared back at him, completely lost. He grinned sheepishly, seeing that he was losing her. "Anyway, when we went there the speed puns never stopped coming. But it's really fun, making puns."

Deserey smiled lightly. She wondered if he was always such a rambling, awkward mess. "Well, maybe we should start making tiny puns. And sand puns."

Ray nodded in agreement. "And Leonard can make ice puns. Well, he sort of already does that. And Mick and Firestorm can make heat puns. And, um, Kendra, Carter, and Sara can make...uh..."

"Bird puns?" Deserey supplied. She remembered someone -- she couldn't recall who -- had told her that all their codenames were the names of birds. Hawkgirl. Hawkman. White Canary. "And Rip?"

"Time puns?" Ray suggested.

"Beautiful. Now...to get them to make those puns..."

"That's going to be a hard task with some of them. Especially Rip and Sara."

"Agreed."

She played with the knots in her damp hair, frowning at them. Her hair was always an unruly mess. Especially when she had just gotten out of the shower. No amount of brushing could tame it. It was nothing more than a disgusting mess, like dirt on the bottom of someone's shoe.

So, what ever solitude and peace she had felt previously had vanished instantly at the sight of it. She found it hard to believe that Ray wasn't scowling in disgust, the way everyone else would have. The way so many people have throughout her entire life. It was a wonder he didn't comment on the way the tangles made her look like she had just gone through a wood chipper, the way all those kids back in her childhood home did.

Then again, Ray was much too nice to say anything of the sort. Though, she was willing to bet that he was still thinking it.

Deserey turned her attention away from her hair, grabbing her sand bag, which she had left sitting at the foot of her bed. It's a good day, she tried telling herself. It's a good day.

"I need to get more sand," she said, peering into the bag. "I ran out in that last fight, and I didn't even realize it."

"Oh," Ray said. "Well you can't be Sandstorm without sand. Let's go find a beach or something." He was grinning excitedly at the idea, but Deserey stared at him apprehensively. She was a black, bisexual woman, and this was the 1950s. Going anywhere near Harmony Falls would mean putting a target on her back. She didn't need that. She was already struggling with the past as it was, she didn't need some old farts digging up the things she'd been trying to bury for so long.

The only reason she had left the ship before was because she had gotten excited at the prospect of a monster hunt. Besides, that had been in the woods. Not the town. There wasn't anyone else, except for the other Legends, then. In the town there would be thousands of bigots, racists, and homophobes. Deserey was just not in the mood to deal with all their crap tonight.

Ray frowned, clearly not understanding any of this. He was a rich white boy with a super suit. Deserey doubted he had ever experienced any of these issues first hand. Sure, he might have known they were wrong, and he may even get offended on behalf of his friends, when the more obvious scenes of bigotry arose; but it would never hit him as hard. It would never be as personal to him.

"Ray," Deserey said, slowly. "There is a reason I didn't jump at the chance to help the others search for Savage or raid an insane asylum. And that's because I refuse to subject myself to the hostile environment of the '50s."

For a moment he looked confused, before a light lit up in his eyes, as he finally understood what she was talking about. "Oh," he said, sounding a bit disappointed. "Well, yeah. But... I mean, you shouldn't worry about a bunch of small minded people. You have super powers! You're way cooler than they are!"

Deserey rolled her eyes. She had always expecting he'd start saying things like that, but it didn't make it any less annoying now that he actually had started doing it.

"Ray --"

"If you let them scare you into hiding away, then they're just getting what they want. You're a person too. You have every right to exist, just like them. If they don't like it, if they don't want to get to know who you really are, then that's there problem. They're missing out," Ray ranted. "Also, it's time travel. You have to check every place out at least once."

She sighed. "If I say yes, will you stop with all your optimistic pep talks?"

"Maybe. Probably not, but maybe," Ray grinned.

She rolled her eyes again, but this time she smiled a little. It was nice having a friend like him. Annoying. But also nice. "Fine," Dez relented. "But if anything goes wrong, I'm throwing you under the bus."

"Eh," he shrugged. "Fair enough."


	17. Debates on the Beach

The beach was just on the outskirts of town, and the walk only took about twenty minutes. It wasn't long before Deserey spotted the sand dunes in the distance, before she could hear the salty water splashing against the earth's service. She smiled, the wind sent her dark curls fluttering, as she and Ray stepped onto the beach.

Deserey reached up, tying her hair back with the hair band she'd been wearing around her wrist. Kicking her shoes off for a brief moment, Deserey dug her toes into the sand, letting the little grains wiggle their way in-between her toes. The sand was warm on her skin, reminding her of all those times she had spent burrowing herself on the beach back in her childhood home.

She closed her eyes, letting the wind press up against her face, chilling her skin just enough that she grew cool in the hot summer air but not enough that she froze. For a moment her mind went blank, as a warm feeling emitted from her chest, and, just for a second, she imagined that she was home. At peace. A soft sigh escaped her lips, as she breathed in the fresh air of the beach. Somehow warm and cool at the same time.

Then, suddenly it wasn't so peaceful. She remembered the last time she had been on a beach. The night the Particle Accelerator exploded. She'd been there, trying to rekindle her muse. It had been ages since she'd painted something, and she had been dying to start up again. Except lack of motivation, as always, stood in her way. So, she had gone to the one place that had always given her a sense of solitude.

But that night had quickly turned ugly. A storm began brewing. Lightening had been striking left and white. Rain had poured harder than it ever had before. There'd been a wave of some orange substance, (dark matter she knew now) but it didn't come from the sea. It came from the sky. Deserey had tried to get out, but she hadn't moved quickly enough. The wave had slammed into her, sending her flying across the beach in a violent tumble.

Deserey's eyes snapped open, as the memory came to an abrupt stop. Ray stared at her, frowning slightly. "You okay?" he asked.

She nodded meekly. "Yeah. Just...The beach was always my sanctuary growing up... I was on the beach at Central City, when the Particle Accelerator exploded. Guess it kind of ruined it for me." Deserey crouched down, pushing some sand into her bag, but she could still feel Ray watching her closely.

"Why would it ruin it for you?" he wondered, and she felt her heart flip. He always sounded so innocent, so pure. She longed to be so untouched by the darkness...

She shrugged, as she rose to her feet once more. "That night...the Accelerator...it turned me into a freak."

Ray scoffed, making her turn towards him. "You're not a freak," he said, and she was surprised to hear how stern his words sounded. His voice softened with the next sentence though, reverting back to his normal, happy-go-lucky tone. "You're unique. Nothing wrong with that!"

Deserey rolled her eyes. "Unique is just the polite way of saying weird."

"I respectfully disagree. Being different and unique is what sets you apart from other people. It's what makes you cool."

She scoffed, rolling her eyes again. He grinned, which she kind of found annoying. It was like he couldn't go two seconds without smiling about something. Ray pointed at her sand bag. "Why do you carry that around, then? If you think it makes you a freak? You had it, even before the Legends."

Deserey looked down at the bag sitting on her hip, frowning lightly. "I don't know," she admitted. "I guess it just sort of...reminds me of home."

Ray nodded, like that made sense. Though she wasn't sure how he understood any of it, because she didn't really comprehend it herself. "You know," he said, "they say home is where the heart is."

She stared at him for a long moment, watching him grin goofily. It was in this moment, with his dark hair flapping slightly in the wind, and his bright brown eyes shining brightly, that she knew she had been right about him all along. He was Patton through and through. "You're positivity is positively infuriating!"

Ray shrugged. If he was offended by the comment he didn't let on. He just picked up her shoes and wiped the sand off them for her. "I think it feels a lot better than just sitting around grieving all the time, don't you?"

"I...guess so." She wondered if he was saying that because he somehow knew about her issues. Granted she hadn't exactly been very subtle about it as of late, and Sara had told Len. Mick and Rip knew as well. Maybe one of them had told Ray... Or maybe he had figured it out on his own.

But when she met his eyes again, he didn't seem to be thinking about her suicidal tendencies. He had a far away look in his eyes, like he had started day dreaming about something else, too. "Anna use to love the beach, too."

Deserey scrunched her face, titling her head to the side. "Anna?"

"Hm? Oh!" He glanced at her, his eyes widening as he realized what he'd just said. Grinning sheepishly, he explained, "Um, my fiancee."

Deserey nodded, smiling lightly. "I didn't know you had a fiancee." She wondered what sort of woman this Anna had to be in order to fall for a man child like Raymond Palmer. And what had she done to catch his eye?

She had to be selfless no doubt. Probably gorgeous. Loving. Patient. Maybe she loved cheesy romances. Yes, she'd almost have to. Ray no doubt was the sort of guy to leave rose petals and candles every where in an extravagant attempt to be romantic. Deserey wondered when their wedding was. Had Rip pulled him away from his bride just before they were to be wed? Had Anna been the one to convince Ray to go? Deserey couldn't imagine Ray would be the sort of guy to just up and leave a gal before the big day.

"Yeah," Ray nodded slowly, and Deserey frowned when she realized he was shifting uncomfortably. "Kind of. I mean...we were. She died."

Her heart sank. So, there would be no wedding after all. That's why he didn't seem to have any trouble leaving her. Because there was no bride to be. "That's hard..."

"Yeah..."

Deserey felt a pang in her heart. She felt guilty for assuming that he'd never felt loss of any kind. Once more she had just proven how awful she really was...

"She was actually kind of my inspiration for the Atom suit," he said, and it was heart wrenching, how sad his voice sounded. Deserey felt the water filling her lungs again, the way it had that night on the roof, when Rip had gathered them. "I couldn't save her. So, I made a suit, hoping to save someone else." Ray started grinning once more a moment later, like he wasn't just talking about his dead fiance, as if there was nothing wrong with the world. "So far, I think it's worked okay."

Deserey snorted. "Unbelievable."

Ray tilted his head to the side. "What?"

"You."

"Me?"

Deserey nodded, rolling her eyes slightly as she did so. She pointed at him, squinting. "You, Ray Palmer, are living in denial."

He gave her a curious look. "I am? How so?"

She waved her hand around, turning in a circle so that it swept all over their surroundings. "The world ain't so pretty," she told him. "I mean, just look at any history book. Wars and discrimination in every time period. Look at this town. All white washed and seemingly perfect. But just on the small walk we took here I noticed fifteen people giving me dirty looks and nervous glances. No doubt because of my skin. And if they knew my sexual preference they'd probably want to kill me, even more. Look at the future where Rip's from. It's over run by an immortal psychopath. His wife and kid are dead."

Ray nodded slowly, taking in everything that she was saying. He didn't say anything for several minutes. Deserey turned her gaze to the water, watching the waves move back and forth, splashing against the sands surface. "So, you think because I'm positive that I'm naive?" he asked finally.

"That's exactly what I think," Deserey told him. He stared at her skeptically. She scowled back at him.

"The world's not that bad," he reasoned.

She laughed. "The fact that you have to say that proves that it is that bad."

"Okay. Sure, there's a lot that needs to be fixed, and it's probably not going to get fixed in the near future," Ray relented. "But there's good things about the world, too."

Deserey raised her eyebrow at him. "Really?" She already knew that he was planning some big, long, optimistic speech about how the world was all rainbows and sunshine. Deserey had been getting speeches like that her whole life; she had gotten really sick of them...

Ray nodded. "There might be violence and a couple of idiots, but there's still things to be happy about. Friends. Family."

She shook her head. "Friends always leave. Family has never been good for anything but arguing."

"You can always reach out to your friends again. And yeah family fights a lot, but they're usually always there in the end, right?"

"Wrong. The fact of the matter is, the world sucks. People suck. And everything sucks."

Ray shot her a side ways glance, looking curious. "Even your ex-husband and kids?"

She paused for a moment, feeling a jabbing sensation in her gut. Deserey had been trying to avoid all thoughts about them since coming aboard the Waverider. It was just too painful to think about. "They're gone now. Doesn't really matter. Everyone leaves in the end. Or dies. Like your fiance and Rip's family." She knew it was a low blow, but at the time she didn't care. Her negative mood was setting in again, and she didn't really feel like being lectured on why she should be happy. (As if she could help what she felt.) "Besides, thinking positively will only lead to being miserable. Think about it. Optimism leads to getting your hopes up. Getting your hopes up leads to disappointment. Disappointment leads to being miserable. Or you can just accept that everything is awful and be miserable. Either way you're miserable. So, yeah. I'd say optimism is pretty naive."

Ray shrugged. "I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree."

"Guess so."

He looked like he wanted to say more, but before he could the two were interrupted. From across the beach the familiar form of Chronos could be spotted, his thick metal armor and giant metallic gun. Deserey gasped, raising her hands to push up a wall of sand at the time hunter. Considering they were on the beach, the move was quite effective. She slammed him in to the ground, covering half his body in the sand, but not before he managed to get a few shots fired.

Red lasers emitted from his gun, soaring towards Deserey. Her eyes widened, but there was no time to duck. She was hit in the gut, falling to the ground a moment later, groaning in pain.

* * *

 **Another update! Hope you enjoyed it. It's a bit shorter, because I was kind of in a hurry so... But hopefully it's alright nonetheless. I tried anyway. Next chapter I'm hoping to finish up the 50s stuff and move on to some other things I've got planned. Hopefully you'll stick with me for that. This story is finally caught up with wattpad, so try not to be too irritated with me if the updates get uber slow.**

 **Anyway, it's 3am for me so...I'm gonna hit the hay.**


	18. Cocktail Parties and Bounty Hunters

Kendra tried to steady her breathing, as she slowly roamed around the Nox living room, her tight black dress squeezing her form to the point of near suffocation. She could see Savage merely two feet away, chatting it up with some doctor from the Asylum. He almost looked like a normal man in this setting. Smiling. Laughing. Joking. It wasn't surprising that all these people could be fooled so easily.

But Kendra wasn't fooled. She knew better. He was a monster that could easily kill her without breaking a sweat. He'd done it enough times, anyway.

Being in the same room as him made her itchy, as if her skin was trying to peal away. Inside her stomach there was a knot the size of a golf ball slamming against her abdomen like a rabid animal.

Carter had slipped out of the room a few minutes ago to check out a mysterious door in the back of the house. Kendra was walking around the party, making sure Savage didn't notice that Carter was snooping through the psycho's things.

She couldn't help but to feel over exposed, her chest completely bare in the little death trap this time line called a dress. Normally she wouldn't complain. Low cut dresses made her feel sexy, but this time was different. She didn't feel nice here, because she wasn't. Here she was some sort of object, a toy, as was suggested by the many perverted eyes that wondered over her body. If they didn't see her as a thing, they saw her as some sort of criminal or servant. (Which she discovered when that ignorant blonde woman tried asking her to fill her glass of campaign.)

"Your husband must be a fool to leave a woman such as yourself alone."

Pins and needles prickled at her under her skin at the sound of his voice. It figured, the only one who thought she looked genuinely decent was the man who wanted to kill her. Vaguely, she thought the dress was beginning to cut off her circulation. Or maybe it was his voice that caused the prickling. Either way she made a mental note to have Mick burn the dress when she got back to the Waverider.

She turned to face him nonetheless, smiling even though the pins and needles made her whole body numb. "I'm tougher than I look," she told him, hoping her voice wasn't shaking too badly. "I can take care of myself."

Savage nodded slowly, moving closer to her. She took a, hopefully, nonchalant step back, rounding the snack table so that it stood between them. Kendra grabbed a strawberry from the fruit bowl, stuffing it in her mouth as though that had been her intentions all along. When Savage smiled, the rabid animal in her gut went crazy, slamming against her abdomen in a lame attempt of escape; she started scratching at her wrist, feeling as though there might've been bugs crawling on her.

He stepped around the table, only stopping when the two were inches apart. The animal snapped, desperately trying to break free of its prison cell; the itchy bugs crawled much more intensely across her skin, and the dress made her lungs collapse into her rib cage. His gaze made her feel exposed, naked, vulnerable.

"Do you believe in past lives?" he asked suddenly, his eyes briefly flicking over her bare chest. It was a small movement, but even that somehow made her feel sick. Wrong. Dirty. "Fate?"

Kendra folded her arms, like they could somehow shield her from him. Except she knew they wouldn't. They never did. "Fate is a prison," she somehow managed through the tightness in her throat. "When free will is gone, what's left?"

"Destiny." Savage smirked, and the pins and needles scattered throughout her arms, growing so intense she was forced to drop them again for fear of losing circulation. The animal in her gut had stopped trying to escape, choosing to coil up instead, twisting around her body, suffocating her right along with her dress. Kendra was frozen in her place, her bones chilling right to the core at the sound of his voice. She'd seen that look before. It was the same look he always had, right before he killed her and murdered Carter.

Kendra opened her mouth, trying to form any sort of argument, but the words caught in her throat. Fortunately, the phone rang a second later, forcing Savage to step away briefly. She breathed out slowly, when he answered the phone, relieved to have him away from her.

 _"Uh, guys?"_ Sara's voice rang in Kendra's ear, and she jumped. She had forgotten about the coms. _"We have a problem. The monsters got out. They're taking over the asylum."_ Grunts could be heard as she spoke, indicating she was in the midst of a battle.

 _"Actually, make that two problems,"_ Ray chimed in. He sounded as though he were out of breath, like he was running from something.

 _"Three,"_ Jax spoke up. His voice was nearly drowned out from all the back ground noise on his end; Kendra wasn't sure what he was doing. _"I just got jumped by some crazy cop. I think he wants to turn me into one of those things, so it's a safe bet he's working for Savage."_

 _"Yikes,"_ Ray muttered. It sounded like he had stopped running, but he was still slightly out of breath. _"I was just gonna say that Chronos is on the beach. Oh, and Dez is shot."_

 _"I love how that's an after thought,"_ Deserey complained. Kendra heard her grimace in pain. Vaguely, Kendra wondered if she was running while she was hurt. Though it was probably more likely that Ray was carrying her. He just seemed gentlemanly that way.

 _"What? No, it's not. Besides, Gideon can probably fix you,"_ Ray protested.

 _"Whatever,"_ Deserey said, and Kendra could tell she was rolling her eyes at the optimistic man. She almost smiled at the thought.

 _"Looks like you were right to worry,"_ came Rip's exasperated sigh. (Which sounded like a puff of air through the coms.)

 _"Yeah,"_ Leonard drawled out. _"Sucks being right all the time."_

Savage hung up the phone, returning to Kendra, the pins and needles arriving shortly after. "There's an emergency at the asylum," he told her. "We will have to continue this discussion later, my sweet Chay-Ara."

Kendra's eyes widened, stiffening. She was too stunned to try to stop him from reaching out and touching her face. (Not that she could have stopped him anyway.) The touch was rough, like sand paper. Wherever his fingers went, the pins and needles followed, intensifying to the point where they were no longer pins and needles but knives as well. Just like the knives he used to kill her. Scraping against her skin, pealing away her life force. Just like that night when he...

Savage removed his hand from her face, exciting the house with that vile smirk of his. Kendra frowned. There was a memory she couldn't quite reach. Something there that she couldn't obtain. Something, somehow, worse than murder. Something her mind was keeping hidden from her. Something she probably didn't want to remember...

Shaking her head, Kendra forced herself to focus. She pressed her hand to her ear, as Carter came into the room again. "Fourth problem," she said. "Savage is on his way to the asylum, and he knows who we are."

 _"...Bullocks,"_ Rip muttered.

"The beach is closer to the house," Carter reasoned. "We'll help take care of Chronos."

 _"Guess that means we're going to the asylum,"_ Leonard said.

 _"And Jefferson?"_ Martin asked worriedly.

 _"I'm fine, Gray. Actually, I stole a cop car. I can head over to the beach too and get Dez back to the ship,"_ Jax told him.

 _"You stole a cop car?"_ Martin said, disapprovement in his voice.

 _"Relax. I'll give it back when we're done with it,"_ Jax promised.

 _"Lame,"_ Mick grumbled.

Everyone ignored the arsonist. There was no time to worry about what someone like him thought was cool and what he thought wasn't. _"When you've gotten rid of Chronos, meet us at the Asylum,"_ Rip said. _"We'll need the whole team to teal with Savage's little Frankensteins."_

 _"Frankenstein was the scientist,"_ Mick corrected.

 _"Actually -"_ Martin started, before stopping himself and changing his sentence all together. _"Oh wait. He's right..."_

 _"No one cares!"_ Deserey hissed. _"I'm kind of bleeding out here so if you don't mind..."_

"We're on our way," Kendra promised. She didn't miss the worried glances Carter was shooting her; he had obviously noticed how shaken her small chat with Savage had gotten her. But she ignored him, opting to hurriedly leave the Nox house and take to the sky, her wings sprouting from her back as she went.

* * *

When Chronos attacked, Ray grabbed Deserey and made a run for it. It would take the bounty hunter a while to free himself from that pile of sand Dez had put him under, so Ray figured they could get at least a few feet away in the mean time.

Ray sat her down, after their talking with the team. Jax and the hawks would arrive soon. They'd be fine. Deserey winced, as he placed her under the tree. She'd lost a lot of blood. (Ray's sprinting across the beach probably didn't help much either.) Her face was pale, as she clutched on to the wound; she gritted her teeth. Though, for the most part she didn't seem like getting shot was that much of a bother for her. Just pissed.

"Just stay calm," Ray told her, crouching next to her. "Jax and the hawks will be here soon."

"I know," Deserey grunted. "I was on the coms too, dumby."

"Oh yeah," Ray said awkwardly. He'd been in such a rush to assure her everything would be okay that he'd nearly forgotten about that. "Well, we should probably get something to wrap that up." He nodded at her wound.

She winced, sitting up, her face contorting awkwardly. Blood seeped from the wound, spilling onto the ground and dying the sand red. Ray shifted, nervous that she'd wind up hurting herself even more. "Yeah," she managed. "No shit, Sherlock." Deserey groaned with every movement, Ray flinching at the noise. He looked around for something he could use to patch up the wound, but he couldn't see anything. Panic settled in, and he froze up. He couldn't have someone else die on him. He couldn't screw up again.

Deserey ripped her pants leg off, tying the fabric around her waist. It was almost like she'd done it before, which Ray found weird because she'd said that she hadn't done any hero work or anything before. Therefore, she wouldn't have been in a position where she'd have gotten shot before. Ray shrugged the thought away, deciding not to worry about it right then. She laid her head back, leaning on her elbows, closing her eyes and cringing in pain.

Ray opened his mouth to say something comforting, but before anything could come out, a red laser slammed into a tree behind him. He jumped to his feet, turning to face Chronos. The bounty hunter marched towards the two slowly, menacingly.

"You have your suit right?" Deserey breathed out, clutching on to her side.

"Uh..." Ray said. "Well..."

Dez sighed. "You have got to be kidding me..."

"I didn't think Rip would appreciate it if I lost any part or it again," Ray said sheepishly. "Besides, I wasn't really expecting to get attacked by Chronos!"

Chronos was a mere two feet away now, his gun aimed directly at Ray's chest. Deserey struggled to stand, wincing as blood seeped through her make shift bandage. Ray frowned as she stumbled, and he grabbed her shoulders to steady her. "Well, any bright ideas, brain boy?" she wheezed. The blood loss was starting to get to her...

Ray glanced at the temporal bounty hunter, mind racing. It wouldn't take much for him to kill the both of them. All he really had to do was pull the trigger. (Duh.) Ray could tell he was on the verge of doing so too, but something was stopping him. Maybe, he thought, just maybe he could figure out what it was. He glanced at Chronos's gun, before looking back at where his face would be under the helmet. "You don't really wanna kill us, do you?"

Deserey snorted, leaning against Ray weakly. "That's your brilliant plan? Talk him out of it?"

Ray shrugged. "Worth a shot..."

Deserey laughed lightly. "I'm too tired to argue with you, brain boy..." She closed her eyes, and Ray started to panic. He shook her lightly, but she wouldn't open her eyes again. "Dez! Dez!"

Ray took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. Jax and the hawks would get there soon. She'd be fine. She'd be fine... He just had to keep Chronos distracted. Turning back to the bounty hunter, Ray noticed he was still standing in front of him, stalk still. He couldn't see his face from under the helmet, but something about his stance made Ray think he was frowning, like he was actually considering his words. His gun lowered an inch or two. Not much, but it was enough that the scientist had noticed it. Somehow Ray had reached him...

"I'm right, aren't I?" Ray said. "You really don't want to kill us."

Chronos didn't say anything in response, but from the way his head tilted to the side, Ray could tell he was hearing him. He felt a small spark of excitement ignite within him. "You don't have to kill us," Ray told the hunter. "I don't know if the Time Masters are threatening you or whatever, but the Waverider is near by. You can come with us. We can -"

Chronos interrupted him with a snort. "You don't even know who you're talking to. And you think you can help me?"

Ray shifted Dez in his arms, frowning worriedly at her, before facing Chronos again. "Yeah," he said, somehow sounding more certain about it than he felt.

"You can't help me," Chronos hissed. The voice modulator in his helmet mangled his voice as he spoke, and Ray realized that he hadn't yet heard what the man's real voice sounded like. (Because that was all he was under that armor. A man.)

"Just because I don't know your real name doesn't mean I can't help you," Ray said. "Although, that would probably help a little..."

"No," Chronos said. "You can't help me, because I'm already -" He cut himself off, abruptly ending his sentence. Ray frowned.

"What?" he asked. "You're already what?"

But Chronos stayed silent. Whatever he was about to say hung in the air, leaving Ray more confused than ever. He wanted to push the subject more, but before he could ask any more about it Dez went limp in his arms, making him stumble slightly. "Look, we can at least try to do something for you, right? There has to be something we can do. But if you don't let me leave, she's going to die. So, let's go to the Waverider and let Gideon -"

Chronos scoffed, his voice sounding even more hostile than before. He raised his gun again. "You don't really want to help me," he growled. "You just want to save her."

"No!" Ray insisted. "Well, yeah. But I also -"

"You can't save her," Chronos said. "Or me. You never could."

Ray frowned, looking at the bounty hunter even more confused than before. "What do you mean?" The more they talked the more confused Ray became. He didn't understand anything the other man was saying. It didn't make any sense.

"Forget it," Chronos scoffed, and Ray got the feeling he was rolling his eyes under that helmet of his. "It doesn't matter now, does it?"

Ray stared at him, feeling as though he was missing something big. Something obvious. He frowned again, trying to put the pieces together, but it seemed as if the puzzle was impossible to solve. Nothing fit together the way they were suppose to. "Who are you?"

Chronos ignored him, curling his finger around the trigger. He was seconds away from pulling it. Ray was running out of time. He shifted Dez again, staring directly at the bounty hunter. "Come on. You just said it doesn't matter," he reasoned. "And if you're going to kill me anyway..."

"...Stop trying to stall," Chronos snapped.

Ray grinned sheepishly, giving him a one armed shrug. Chronos didn't look very amused. Ray still couldn't see his face, but he got the feeling he was getting pretty annoyed. Which could either be very bad or very good. Depending. He wasn't sure what kind of villain Chronos was. (Was he even a villain? Just because he was aiming a gun at him and shot Deserey? Okay, maybe that was pretty villain like...)

Chronos was about to pull the trigger, Ray was sure, but before he could, Kendra and Carter slammed into him, sending him flying across the beach again. In the same instance, Jax pulled up in his stolen police car. The younger man pushed the back door open from the driver's seat. "Get in!" he yelled at Ray.

Ray didn't hesitate. Carefully, he placed Dez in the back seat, before climbing into the vehicle himself and closing the door. Jax immediately sped forward, the hawks taking the the sky once more, flying above them. Ray glanced behind them once, looking for Chronos, but he couldn't find him. He felt a sinking feeling in his chest. "Sorry," he muttered, even though he knew there was no way the bounty hunter couldn't hear him at this point.

* * *

Betty was a pretty blonde girl dressed in a typical fifties flowery skirt and dress shirt. She had smooth, pale skin and gorgeous blue eyes. Her hair was pinned back modestly, and she wore nice, shiny shoes. The girl had been with Jax, when he had been attacked, and he had not yet had a chance to drop her off somewhere safe. As a result, she had ended up on the Waverider with the five Legends.

Currently, she was standing in the center of the medical wing, marveling at all the future technology as Ray set Deserey down in the nearest chair, wrapping the cuff around her wrist so that Gideon could heal her. (Thankfully, the AI said she was still breathing and could easily be saved.)

"This is amazing," Betty muttered, smiling softly, as she gazed around.

Jax nodded slowly, watching her apprehensively, as Dez's wounds slowly began to heal themselves. "Yeah," he said, "but we're kind of not suppose to mess with the time line so, uh..."

Betty jerked her head upward in understanding, holding her hands up. "Your secret is safe with me."

Kendra, who had been standing stiffly in the doorway, shifted so that her hands were on her hips. She wore a blank expression on her face, like someone who lacked feelings. Jax wasn't sure what it was all about, but he decided not to ask. "We should go after Savage soon," she said. "Gideon, is Dez going to be okay?"

"She will be fine, Miss Saunders," Gideon announced, her voice ringing throughout the room. Betty laughed lightly, astonished by the talking computer. But she quickly grew serious again, realizing there was something more dire going on.

She looked at Jax, as he and the others were exciting the room. "You'll bring Tommy back won't you?" she asked. Tommy was her boyfriend. He was one of the missing teens Savage had experimented on. Jax nodded curtly at her, as the others headed for the cargo bay.

"We'll do our best," he promised. Then, he followed the others out of the time ship.

* * *

 **I was gonna keep going, but it's been like - what? - four weeks? Much too long of a wait. I am so sorry. I just kind of...struggled with this...It took me forever to figure out how I wanted this thing to go, and then classes started up again so I had to attend those. College classes are super exhausting too, you know? So, that took up even more time...And I'm just so frustrated at myself for not getting this up sooner...But better late than never right?**

 **Next chapter we will finally get out of the 50s. (I know I said that would be this chapter, but I just didn't feel like putting that fight scene in here. So...meh.) And we'll learn some things about Kendra that will make Savage seem even more deranged. So, that will be fun, I hope...**

 **Also, sorry if the thing with Ray and Chronos was disappointing... I really tried. I was gonna do something else, where there were like two Chronoses and some timey wimey stuff...But I figured that was too confusing, so I changed my mind. And that sort of made me feel...meh, because I had to figure some stuff out but...I think it's easier this way. So, hopefully the scene you got was fulfilling enough for y'all.**

 **And I have some questions for y'all if you don't mind responding to them...**

 **1\. I want to add interludes with Deserey's family. Would it be annoying if y'all had to go back a few chapters to read the first one? I'm thinking I'll put them every ten chapters or so. What do you think? Yay? ney?**

 **2\. How upset would you be if I replaced Amaya with Mari in seasons two and three?**

 **3\. Would you prefer Captain Canary or Avalance?**

 **4\. Would you read little novellas about a younger Deserey and her backstory?**


	19. Interlude 1

Sometimes Anita hated her mother. She felt awful thinking it, but it was the truth. The woman spent years crying over how much her life sucked, as if her family wasn't good enough. As if she wasn't good enough. Then, one night she just leaves all together without so much as a goodbye. And she wondered why Anita and her brother Daren had chosen to live with their father?

Anita rolled her eyes, slamming the thick math book shut. She'd been trying to study for the test next week for the last three hours without prevail. Trying to continue would be utterly useless, when her mind was in such a foggy state. The only thing she could focus on was how her mother had just vanished earlier that night. Besides, it was well past one in the morning anyways. She was tired and beyond moody.

Anita pushed herself out of the chair she'd been sitting in for the last thirty minutes, flopping down on her bed a moment later. But when she closed her eyes, she couldn't sleep, her mind swarming with all sort of thoughts. Her dad had given her some lame excuse about her mom going traveling with a group of people to 'find herself.' But Anita didn't believe any of it. She thought her mother was just trying to get away from the rest of them.

She had never cared about any of them. Clearly. Otherwise, why else would she keep pushing them away? Why would she be so depressed, if they had actually meant something to her?

She sighed, rubbing her eyes and groaning softly, exhausted beyond belief. It had been ages since she'd stayed up this late. Anita was generally considered a good kid. She didn't stay up past ten, if she could help it, and she always did well in school. No matter what. Failure to get an A was not an option! Unlike her brother.

Daren was constantly goofing off. He never took anything seriously, and he never turned anything in on time, despite Anita constantly telling him he needed to do well in school if he wanted to go anywhere in life. (It wasn't like their mother was going to do it, was she?) He was lucky if he passed any of his classes with a C. He was such a goofy child, Anita wasn't sure how the heck he'd survive the real world.

Anita buried her head in the pillow, climbing under the covers. Her head was pounding from the stress of it all. She just wanted to run away, forget about it. Just like her mom had. Not forever, of course. She did have plans for herself, after all. All she wanted was a small break to get her head on straight. Little did she know that she would get the chance to do just that the very next day...

* * *

The trouble started during the fifth period history class. Anita was sitting lazily at her desk, head in her hands. She yawned, just barely able to focus on the lecture Mr. Key was giving on the Aztecs.

School had been especially dull all day, and this class had been dragging on for twenty minutes, now. Normally, she would have been more focused and attentive, but since her mother's latest suicide attempt Anita hadn't much felt like paying attention. All she could think was why?

Why was she never good enough? She only ever tried to do her best. To make her mother proud of her, to make her happy. But it was never good enough. She was always discontent. Anita could never figure out what she was doing wrong, and she hated it. Was she too uptight? Was she not care free enough for her? Did she not do good enough in school? Was it something she'd said? Something she'd done?

Well, Anita thought bitterly. I guess I'll never find out.

She'd just run off...hardly saying anything to anyone. All she left was some bullshit text about how she'd been planning to off herself. That was the last Anita had ever really heard of her mother. The last thing she'd heard her say. (Or text.)

Whatever, she huffed, rolling her eyes. Who needs you anyways...

Mr. Key paused his lecture for a moment, allowing for the class to take notes if they needed to. (Most of the students didn't, but a few of the A honor roll kids, like Anita, complied.) Anita sighed heavily, jotting down a few incoherent notes, not really caring at this point. She was bored, tired, and completely fed up. What was the point of any of this anyway?

With another yawn, Anita plucked herself from her chair and approached Mr. Key's desk. The teacher glanced at her curiously, raising an eyebrow.

"May I use the restroom?" she asked in as polite a voice as she could muster at the moment. The teacher nodded for her to go, and she hurried out of the god forsaken classroom, grumbling to herself as she went. It seemed so arbitrary that students had to ask permission to make bowel movements.

Anita didn't actually have to go, though. She just had to get out of that class room. Sitting there stiff as a statue had been driving her crazy! She needed to move. To feel...something beyond this rage that had been blinding her for so long.

She roamed the halls for awhile, just trying to remember something pleasant for a change. Something that wasn't her mother holding a knife to her own throat.

Anita was so distracted that she didn't spot the man running towards her, until he slammed into her, knocking her to the ground. She toppled over with a yelp, her glasses flying off her face.

"Whoops, sorry," the man apologized. He grabbed her glasses and held them out for her. Anita quickly snatched them from him with a huff. She glared at him, as she took in his appearance.

He was a thin man, maybe close to his forties, but the sheepish grin on his face made him look ten years younger. His short, dark hair sort of reminded Anita of a sheep, and his own thick glasses covered up his kind, ocean blue eyes.

"Who are you?" Anita asked. "I don't recognize you as part of the staff here..."

"That's because I'm not part of the staff," the man told her. "I'm incognito."

She nodded slowly, not really sure what he was talking about. "Right...and you're name?"

He shrugged, jumping to his feet. "Good question." The man started examining the watch on his wrist, like it might have been telling him something really interesting.

Anita stood up, scowling. "I was being serious."

He glanced at her, his eyes sparking with a certain light that Anita couldn't quite place. "So was I."

She frowned, staring back at him, her mind whirling in confusion. "Wait. You're trying to say you don't know your own name?"

The man scoffed, rolling his eyes like she'd just said something stupid. "Of course I know it!" he said. "I just can't remember it."

She nodded again, not sure what to make of this strange man. What was he even doing here? Where had he come from?

"Speaking of names...what's yours, kid?" the man asked, looking serious all of a sudden.

Anita folded her arms over her chest defiantly. She had gotten the stranger danger talk early on in life, so she knew better than to just give away personal information. "Why should I tell you?"

"Because there's a dangerous meta human on the loose, and they're running around your school. I'm gonna stop them, but if something happens to you I should probably tell someone about it, don't you think?" The man stared at her, like he was actually waiting for her honest opinion.

She looked back at him, momentarily lost for words. What the heck was she supposed to say to that? "I...um..." She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. "Why don't you just let the Flash take care of it?"

The man tilted his head to the side. "The what now?"

Anita rolled her eyes. Now, she knew this guy had to be joking. How the heck could he not know who the Flash was? He was the biggest hero in the entire city! Central City had a whole holiday built around the guy. They had drinks named after him and his friends down at Jitters. You had to be living under a rock to not know who he was! "Uh, the Flash? You know, guy in a red suit? Runs around locking baddies up?"

The man shrugged. "I've never seen anyone like that in this city before."

"That's sort of the point," Anita told him. "He's fast. You're not supposed to see him."

He shrugged again, looking like he couldn't care less about the Flash or what he did for the city. It almost seemed as if he didn't even believe Anita that Central City had its own super hero. "Anyways...name?"

She sighed, exasperated. Clearly, this guy wasn't going to lay off until she told him something. For a moment, she contemplated giving him a fake name, but after a moment she thought better of it. What was the worst that could happen if she gave the man her real name? "Anita."

He grinned brightly, looking like an over grown child as he did so. "Nice to meet you, Anita. Now run for your life!"

Before she could respond, the man grabbed her hand and took off at a sprint down the halls. She tried to protest, but when she glanced behind them she thought twice about that. Because right behind them was a flaming man, hair bursting with white hot flames, hands alight with a ghostly fire. His eyes were the same color as an egg shell, glossed over as if he were in a daze.

Anita let out a strangled gasp at the sight, letting go of the man's hand and running faster. She only came to a stop, when she ran into a locked door.

The mystery man frowned at the door. "It's locked. Why is it locked?"

Anita shrugged helplessly. "The school board insisted we get more safety features for our public schools, like three years ago because stupid meta people kept attacking us!"

"Yes, but why's it locked?"

"To keep them out, dumbo!"

"Well, that's stupid. Clearly locks aren't the issue."

Anita would have argued about it more with him, but before she could say anything more a white flame slammed into the wall behind her, singeing it slightly. Anita jumped, screaming loudly.

The flamming meta human approached them slowly, a menacing smirk playing at his lips; the mystery man aimed his watch at the water fountain hanging on the wall near by. Instantly, water exploded from the fountain, pushing the meta human backwards, extinguishing his flames, and flooding the halls.

While the meta was down, the nameless man turned swiftly, pointing his watch at the door. He pushed it open a second later, running outside. Anita watched him, stunned. "H-how did you -"

"I have a really cool watch," the man said. "Come on!"

For a moment she didn't move, still processing what had just happened. She knew a magic watch shouldn't be so surprising in a world where people could run on water and shoot lightening from their finger tips, but there had to be a line somewhere, right?Anita shook her head, running after the man.

She quickly matched his pace, which was surprising considering she usually would have run out of breath in under five minutes. (She assumed adrenaline was the cause for her extra stamina.)

"What about the rest of the school?" Anita panted, as they sprinted across the school yard. She was worried that the meta human would attack the other students and staff members. Shouldn't they have at least alerted the police?

"They'll be fine," the man insisted. He turned left, rounding the corner, making Anita slip slightly on the ground as she tried to follow.

"How do you know?" she asked, not even sure why she was still following this guy.

"I stole something from him, and he wants it back," the man said, as the came to a pause in an alleyway. "So, he'll probably follow us. But in my defense I only stole it because I needed to fix my time machine."

Anita stared at him, raising a skeptical eyebrow. "Time machine?"

The man nodded, breaking out into a huge, childish grin. "Wanna see?"

* * *

I hope that was a good intro to Deserey's daughter... Was there enough detail? Dialogue not too... cringe? I'm sure the Whovian readers will be happy at least...

Let me know what y'all thought of Anita in the comments! Did you like her? Dislike her?

And who do you think the mystery man is? Any ideas yet? (I know you literally just met him, but it's never too early to start theorizing! )

Also I hope it's fine with y'all that I'm just gonna periodically put these where ever I feel like. I was gonna go back and put it more organized, like, every ten or five chapters...but it just seems easier to do it randomly

So, I'm a lameo so I don't have much to say, but I hope you enjoyed this little interlude. Next chapter we'll get back to Dez and the Legends!

That's all for now,

Toodles!

~ Elsie


	20. Blood Lusts and Dark Pasts

_Warning: Implied rape/attempt of rape scene. Viewer discretion advised._

* * *

The monsters were all over the place by the time Rip and the two crooks arrived on the scene. Sara was standing on top of the counter, swinging a flag pole around like it was a bo staff, smacking the hawk creatures across the face. Professor Stein was backed against the wall, unable to do much until Jefferson arrived to merge into Firestorm with him. (Though he still managed to get in a few hits.)

Rip and the two thieves whipped out their guns, before jumping into the fight. Sara smirked at them, as Mick shot a blast of flames at a hawk monster trying to attack one of the nurses.

"About time," Sara said, jumping off the counter. She dropped the flag pole in favor a pen laying on the desk; the assassin stabbed another monster in the arm (nothing too fatal, since they had learned these monsters were actually those missing teens) with it as Savage's cronies swarmed into the room. (Apparently, he had built up quite the army here in the fifties.)

"Where's Savage?" Rip wondered, not spotting the immortal tyrant anywhere. Hadn't Kendra said that he was also heading to the asylum?

Stein nodded to the elevator, as Leonard punched out one of Savage's lackeys. "He went that way," the professor said.

"Alright, you lot stay here and wait for the others," Rip ordered. (Though he knew they wouldn't listen, so he wasn't sure why he bothered wasting his breath.)

He made his way over to the elevator, only to be stopped moments later by a few of Savage's lackeys. (Sara and the crooks had taken care of what was left of the hawk experiments, knocking each of the teenagers turned monsters unconscious or giving them minor injuries.) It didn't take long before the captain realized the others were standing right next to him, unsurprisingly disobeying his orders. Five of Savage's goons approached, one crony for each other the Legends on the scene. They each aimed their weapons at the present Legends, glaring threateningly.

"You're coming with us!" the leader of the goons declared, like the Legends would even bother listening to him.

Rip looked back at him, unamused. He backed up slowly, pressing his back against the wall. "Of course," he said. "Strangers in the asylum who can do strange things. You want to ask questions...Or kill us. Either way. But...If I was going to execute someone by backing them against the wall, between you and me, a little word of advice..."

He glanced over the lackeys, as confused looks washed over each of them in turn. Rip smirked as he hit the down button and the elevator doors slowly ground open. "Don't stand them against the lift."

Rip and the other Legends with him slipped inside the elevator cart, as the lackeys began firing their guns at the closing door. Professor Stein glanced at Rip the moment the door had closed and the lift began drifting downwards. "Was that a Doctor Who quote, Captain?"

Rip raised an eyebrow at him, put off for a minute. "What? No." Then, after a moment of recounting what he'd just said. "Oh. It was. Damn..."

The other three simply shrugged, not really caring about Rip's - apparently accidental - reference.

A few seconds later, the elevator opened up, revealing a long, dark hallway. It was like something out of a horror movie, right down to the drippy pipes and mold on the walls. The lights flickered slightly up above, giving the halls an eerie chill about them. On the back wall, there was a large hole, revealing the night sky and letting in a cool breeze. (That must have been how the hawk monsters got out to attack the people of Harmony Falls.) Rip wouldn't have been surprised if some sort of ghost or demon came barreling down the halls at them. (Well, they were already dealing with hawk monsters. What was a demonic beast from hell added into the mix?)

Sara retracted a knife from the sleeve of her uniform, nodding at the wall next to them. "Hall H," she read from the grimy sign peeling off of the stone. "That's where the nurse said Savage kept all his sick experiments."

"How barbaric," Stein muttered.

"Savage will be nearby," Rip announced. He opened his mouth to give them orders, half wondering if they would even hear them when he heard a noise nearby. The five Legends turned to the hole in the wall, where the noise had come from, swiftly, each drawing their own weapons. (Except Stein, who didn't have anything of the sort.)

For a moment there was only silence. Rip wasn't sure what he was expecting to come through the hole, as he trained his gun at the murky shadows the dark night cast, but the other members of the Legends were not it. Ray, Jax, and the hawks rounded the corner; Rip almost fired at Jefferson, while Leonard nearly iced Ray's face off, and Mick fired red hot flames at Carter. (Luckily, Jax managed to pull him out of the way just in time.) Sara raised her knife, ready to pounce, before realizing there was no threat.

Leonard and Rip slowly put their guns away, Len rolling his eyes, Rip letting out a heavy sigh and rubbing his temple. Sara groaned, leaning against the wall, cursing up a storm, while Stein let out a relieved breath of air and went to Jefferson's side.

"Did you guys seriously just try to shoot us?" Jax asked, unamused. He folded his arms over his chest, looking rather offended. Rip gave him a sheepish look, not really sure how to apologize for mistaking someone as an ugly monster out for blood.

"Oh well," Ray shrugged. "No harm was done." He seemed to be the only one who had forgiven them for their hasty decision making. Honestly, Rip was starting to wonder if there was anything in the world that could upset the man. It seemed as though nothing ever phased him even in the slightest.

Sara eyed the other Legends carefully, as if she thought there was something wrong with them. Rip didn't understand the look at first. Not until she said, "Where's Deserey?"

"Back on the ship," Kendra told her. "Gideon is healing her wound from Chronos. So, she'll be fine."

Leonard glared at her. "And you just left her alone?" Rip didn't blame him for snapping. He shared his concern, actually. Considering all four people who knew about her suicidal tendencies were standing right here in this room, there would be no one to try and stop her should she wake up and try something drastic. (Though, since none of the others knew about Deserey's situation, they didn't know to have someone stay behind to keep an eye on her. So, Rip was trying his best not to feel too agitated at them for that.)

Ray tilted his head, when Sara and Mick also began glaring daggers at him and the other three Legends who had arrived late to the party. Stein frowned as well, "I don't understand why you seem so offended. They said Gideon was healing her." The others nodded in agreement, looking confused by Leonard's reaction.

Rip glanced over the crooks and the assassin. Sara was pursing her lips worriedly, while Leonard took a deep breath, looking like he was struggling not to cuss the others out. Mick opened his mouth to say something, and at first, Rip thought he was going to spill the beans but instead he just closed his mouth again, apparently thinking better of it. (Which was a first for Mr. Rory, wasn't it?)

Rip himself felt a wave of nausea wash over him, as the thought of Deserey lying dead on the floor crossed his mind. She had been in a more pleasant mood - and she had even been joking around with Ray earlier - today, sure. But Rip knew that could change in the blink of an eye. "I'm sure Gideon will do everything she can to help Miss Dunet," he said, trying to assure himself as well as the two thieves and the assassin. Though it was only the three of them that really understood the message he was attempting to convey (Gideon would do everything in her power to keep Deserey from offing herself, should she wake up feeling the need to do so). The others must have assumed he simply meant the AI would fix all her physical wounds.

Sara nodded slowly, though she still looked rather worried. "We should find Savage and get back to the ship."

Mick pointed to the massive hole in the wall that Ray, Jax, and the hawks had come through. "How do we know he didn't just leave?"

Professor Stein stared at him, looking a little more shocked than what was necessary. "That's...actually a very good point," he said. "He could have left when he realized we were here."

Leonard shook his head. "He didn't leave," he said, sounding sure of himself. "He has to keep up appearances, looking like the doctor who's ever so worried about his patients. If he didn't at least show up in all of this, it would look suspicious. Besides, he'll want to keep his little experiments under wraps."

Carter frowned at the mention of the hawk creatures, looking concerned. "We can turn them back right?"

Ray nodded hastily, not showing a spec of doubt on his face. "Oh, yeah. I'm sure with Gideon's help, Marty and I can whip something up." Carter nodded looking relieved to hear that news.

Kendra sucked in a deep breath, looking a bit unnerved for some reason as she spoke, "If Savage is still here, then where is he?"

Sara twirled her knife around her wrist expertly, before letting the blade come to a careful stop just above her shoulder. She smirked. "Let's go find out."

The Legends started down the hall, staying together in a close nit group, much to the annoyance of Leonard and Mick. (Rip wasn't very fond of the closeness either, admittedly, but at least he knew none of them were wondering off to cause trouble.) Thankfully, they didn't have to search for very long, because they spotted Savage speaking to one of his cronies just a few feet down the hall.

Unfortunately, Rip hadn't been prepared for all the emotions he'd feel upon seeing the disgusting vermin. A fire ignited in the pit of his stomach, a sort of aching that he could only describe as hatred. His heart drowned in a wave of grief, as the memory of this monster hovering over his family's bodies came crashing down on him all too suddenly. His hair was a lot shorter in this time period, but he still had that bored, sanctimonious look in his eyes. Like he just knew he was superior due to his long life and deadly skills.

Savage's gaze flickered to Kendra, an almost hungry look in them. He kept his eyes on her, until she covered up uncomfortably. Then, his gaze turned to Rip, almost looking confused. The fire in Rip's gut and the flood in his heart fought against each other. He couldn't tell which was winning, but it made it rather difficult to stand upright.

"Gareeb? Here to kill me again, I presume?" Savage said smugly. Rip flinched, as his team glanced at him with those confused looks of theirs. Rip had gotten the nickname back in Ancient Egypt, before he had decided to gather the Legends, before trying to off himself and being stopped by a stranger. He had gone back in time to kill Savage before he became immortal before he rose to power. It was the first thing he had done after finding the bodies of his wife and son. He was going to kill the bastard before he ever got the chance to hurt anyone... but when he had come face to face with him he just couldn't bring himself to do it. That's why he needed the Legends. And that was just one more thing he hadn't told them...

Jax made a face at the immortal. "Gar - what now?"

"Gareeb," Sara repeated. "It means stranger in Arabic." She gave a sideways glance at Rip. "But what does he mean again?"

Rip hesitated. "Well...Er..."

Leonard shrugged, holding up his cold gun, looking rather bored with all the small talk. "Who cares? Let's just get this over with."

Savage smirked at him, and the raging fire in Rip's gut overcome the sea of grief for a moment. "I am immortal," he informed, unaware that the Legends already knew this bit of information.

"I'm gonna kill you anyway," Leonard told him.

Savage chuckled, as though the puny mortal was the most amusing thing in the world to him. Like they were all toys that he could play with. "And who are you to stand up against me, Vandal Savage Conquer of Empires?"

"Leonard Snart, robber of ATM."

"Ah. I see."

The lackeys from upstairs began trickling in from the shadows, like some sort of high definition action movie. Most of them carried long swords, but a few of them carried guns as well. Sara looked them over, unimpressed. "We can take em."

Jax nodded curtly, and Stein held his hand out for the younger man. The two clasped their palms together, merging into Firestorm at once. Ray's suit formed around him, as he prepared to fight; simultaneously Carter and Kendra's wings sprouted from their backs. Leonard, Mick, and Rip raised their guns, as Sara crouched in a low potion, ready to attack. Savage looked back at them all, chuckling amusedly. Then, all hell broke loose.

* * *

When Deserey woke up once again in the medical bay, she instantly grew pissed. She was starting to grow very accustomed to this room and not in a good way. Fortunately, however, the pain in her abdomen had gone away, and the gunshot wound seemed to have healed up quite nicely thanks to Gideon working her magic.

Her...

Deserey frowned at the thought of the word. She wasn't sure why it was randomly bothering her, but it seemed odd, calling a machine by female pronouns. Dez found herself, just out of the blue, questioning it as she slowly came out of the daze Gideon's medicine had put her in upon waking up. Her...

Was Gideon a her? Did AI's even have genders?

She sat up, groaning and trying to shake off the foggy haze still left in her head. Focus, Dez told herself. Savage. Deadly teenage birds. Murders. Right. Okay. Time to focus.

"Gideon, where are the others?" Deserey asked, looking up at the ceiling as she peeled the medical cuff off her wrist. "Still fighting Savage or?"

"That would be correct, Miss Dunet," Gideon responded.

"And Jax's date?"

"She went home shortly after the others left."

Deserey nodded slowly, as she stood up from the chair. That was probably for the best. The girl had no idea what they were up against - hell, the Legends didn't even know what they were up against. Besides, Rip would be pissed (again) if he knew that Jax and the others had brought her on board. He was very nit picky about people from the past seeing the Waverider. (Though half the time when they took off the ship wasn't even cloaked, so she wasn't really sure why he cared so much.)

"Can you get me to the asylum?" Deserey asked, vaguely recalling the conversation the team had over the coms about meeting there after dealing with Chronos.

"Certainly," Gideon said. "Although, you might want to hold on to something." Dez nodded again, walking over to the doorway and grabbing hold of the frame. As soon as she got a firm grip, the ship took to the sky, flying - Deserey assumed - to the mental hospital.

When she arrived the first thing she took note of were the unconscious monsters laying on the ground. Any of the doctors or nurses who hadn't fled the scene in terror were crouched in the corners of the room, rocking back and forth with an insane look in their eyes. (She found that kind of ironic.) The next thing Deserey took note of was the piano sitting against one of the walls.

It had a soft, smooth and polished surface. The keys were shiny, like they were brand new. The sight made her smile. She couldn't really play all that well, but the thing reminded her of a certain adult cartoon...

"Gideon," she said into the coms. "Can the others use a distraction?"

"Certainly, Miss Dunnet," the AI responded. "I believe they are down stairs in Hall H."

Dez's grin widened. "Perfect." She turned to the nearest, strongest looking doctors she could find. "You three! Help me get this thing downstairs!"

* * *

Firestorm was having fun blasting people off their feet. They always enjoyed a good fight.. Well, Jax did anyway. Stein just complained the whole time about how Jax needed to be more careful. It was really annoying.

Below them, Len and Mick took turns firing their guns. Carter and Ray were fighting via hand to hand combat, the latter of which occasionally fired blasts from his suit. (Yeah, he had put it on again after Chronos.)

The fight was going smoothly enough, until the elevator opened up and they heard music playing throughout the halls. It sounded like someone was playing the piano, but from the angle he was at Jax couldn't see who it was. Firestorm frowned, landing next to the two crooks. "What the heck is that?" Jax asked. All the Legends and cronies alike stopped for a moment, completely baffled, as the singing began.

The voice was a little shaky, like maybe the person didn't sing very often. But whoever it was still had a better voice than Jax ever would, so he couldn't judge too much. "It seems today that all you see," the voice sang, "is violence in movies and sex on TV."

Leonard snorted, rolling his eyes, as the pianist continued singing. "But where are those good ol' fashion values?" The music stopped, and Dez came waltzing into the room, skipping out from the elevator. "On which we use to rely!" She skipped over to the two crooks and Jax, still singing, "Lucky there's a Family Guy! Lucky there's a man who positively can do all the things that make us -" She stopped abruptly, pointing to the three boys in front of her.

Leonard gave her a serious look. "You're not getting anyone to sing for you, Dezzie. Sorry."

She pouted. "You ruined it!" Then, Deserey grinned brightly, letting out a soft giggle. "Still, I just wrote the Family Guy theme song about forty-something years early."

He just rolled his eyes at her. "How cute," he muttered, before raising his Cold Gun and blasting one of Savage's men. The fighting instantly started up again.

"I have no idea what just happened but okay," Jax shrugged, flying into the air again. Deserey jumped into the fight alongside Leonard, swirling sand around the lackeys' faces, blinding them so that Carter or Ray could take a shot at them.

Deserey frowned after a moment, looking around the battlefield (battle hall?). She couldn't help but to notice there were three people missing from their team. "Where's -" She was cut off by a yelp from down the hall, and her head snapped in that direction. It sounded like Rip...

"They went that way," Leonard told her, jerking his head in the direction of the yelp. "They don't have any back up."

Deserey nodded. Taking his unspoken hint, she shot a blast of sand at a group of cronies before making her way down the hall to find Rip, Sara, and Kendra.

* * *

Sara hadn't been planning on anyone finding out about her blood lust, but when she lost her cool on one of the cronies in front of the captain that's exactly what happened. The Legends split up early in the fight. Firestorm flew (as best they could in the small roofed hall) off, blasting flames at a group of Savage's men. When Savage himself ran off, Kendra charged after him. Carter and Ray were backed against one corner, while Leonard and Mick fought back to back across the room.

Sara and Rip paired up together, making their way after Kendra and Savage. Sara swung her knife around like a mad woman, kicking in the lackeys' knees, bending their arms until she heard them snap. Every time she heard one of them scream, she felt the grin on her face grow a little wider. She couldn't help it. She loved it. Loved their pain. She wanted them to suffer. Wanted them dead.

Rip stood by her side, shooting Savage's men with his laser gun. (Though he never made a kill shot.) He only paused, when he heard one of the cronies grunt in pain before falling to the floor dead. The captain glanced over to see Sara, slicing his throat open, grinning sickly. Rip's eyes widened, but Sara didn't really care. She was enjoying the sight of the man, slowly bleeding out on the floor beneath her feet... At least for now.

The captain ran over to the White Canary. He was screaming something, maybe it was her name, but she wasn't really listening. She couldn't hear anything. Couldn't see anything but the color red. She raised her knife above her head, ready to strike her next victim. It didn't really matter who it was. As long as they died and there was lots of blood, Sara didn't care. She brought her knife down, stabbing another cronie over and over, until he stopped breathing. Until he stopped moving... Until she lost count of how many times she had stabbed him...

Sara blinked slowly, a roaring in her ears as she gradually came to. She could hear Rip somewhere nearby, shouting her name; she shook her head, trying her best to clear her mind. Then, all at once she spotted the dead bodies that surrounded her. Her stomach flipped like an acrobat. Sara backed against the wall, hand going to her mouth, as she tried to stop a gasp from leaving her lips.

She turned her head to see the captain, staring back at her with wide eyes. Her hand shook as she brought it away from her face; she looked back down at the ground. "Rip, I -"

He shook his head, suddenly standing up perfectly straight, like a scarecrow sitting up on its pole. "We'll talk about it later," he decided. "Let's just get Savage..."

Sara nodded her head, slipping the knife in her pocket. She didn't trust herself with it any more... Not now. Not after what just happened... Rip took her arm and the two ran off down the hall, where Kendra and Savage had ran off.

They met Deserey on the way. She looked like she had just gotten there herself. She waved at the two, before frowning this deep, concerned frown that only mothers really seemed to get. "What happened?" she asked.

"Nothing. It's fine," Sara said quickly. "Let's find Kendra." She hurried off, leaving the other two behind her. Dez glanced at Rip, confused, but he just shrugged, looking a little like someone had just run his puppy over with a lawn mower. She shrugged the weird behavior off, deciding to focus on the present moment. She'd ask the two about it later. They had to find Kendra and take care of Savage now. But when they did... When they did Deserey was pretty sure she would be sick...

* * *

It was a mistake to pursue Savage on her own. Kendra should have known better. Maybe if she had waited for someone else, she would have kept all those unwanted memories buried. But she had gone after him, and everything came flooding back to her all at once...

She cornered him in an abandoned room with chains on the back wall and a small desk sitting in one corner. It looked like it must have been where he kept the hawk monsters whenever he didn't want them roaming the city. Kendra wasn't sure why he was going in there, but she didn't really care. (It never occurred to her that it could have been a trap for her.)

"It's over, Savage," she hissed, somehow managing to sound brave, even though her stomach was tying itself into knots at the sight of him. Kendra raised her dagger and approached him. He turned around slowly, smirking back at her like he had just won a prize. Savage walked towards her without saying anything, and the two walked around the room, circling one another until they were standing opposite of where they had been at the beginning of the exchange. That was Kendra's second mistake.

"Oh, Chay Ara," Savage chuckled darkly. He took a step closer, forcing Kendra's back to hit the wall. "It's far from over..." And it was then that she realized just how far the door had gotten from her. It seemed as though it were growing further and further away, the longer she stayed in this room with this monster.

He came closer so that his body was pressed against hers. She couldn't move, and suddenly she remembered why he had made her so uncomfortable earlier. She remembered what he had done to her, how many times he had done it to her; and she realized that he was going to do it again, now. Her eyes widened, her breath hitching at the realization. She struggled to fight against him, but of course she couldn't. She never could...

His hand lowered to the strap of her shirt, roughly tugging it off her shoulder, as she tried to kick her way out from under him. But he was too strong. She couldn't move. She couldn't even breathe. She couldn't escape.

He moved his hand further down her body, grabbing her breast in a way that was far less than gentle; he would have gone further if the door hadn't been knocked down a moment later, Sara, Dez, and Rip charging into the room. Savage backed away from Kendra, glaring at the three interrupters; and Kendra ran to Deserey and Sara's side.

"Are you okay?" Dez asked softly.

Kendra nodded, even though her legs felt like jelly and her heart was hammering inside her chest. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Sara asked, looking worried. "Because it looked like he was gonna -"

"He wasn't," Kendra lied.

"...Okay."

Before they could deal with Savage anymore, another familiar face - or helmet really, since no one had ever saw his face before - appeared. A small explosion put a hole through the wall. It wasn't enough to knock anyone off their feet, but it made even Savage shield his eyes. When the dust cleared, everyone looked up to see Chronos standing in the hole in the wall.

Savage frowned at the temporal bounty hunter, looking him up and down with curiosity. "Well, now who are you supposed to be?"

"Nobody to you, MacLeod," Chronos growled in response.

Savage chuckled at the attitude from the other homicidal psychopath. He approached the bounty hunter, wondering who the hell he was under his helmet and if he could use him somehow...

Kendra was already feeling pretty vulnerable from Savage. The sight of Chronos sent a rage running through her body like she had never felt before. After he had killed Aldus... It was all too much. She was feeling too many emotions. Hurt...Anger... Fear... She decided to focus on the anger. At least that didn't make her feel so weak.

Kendra raised her dagger, ready to charge at Chronos, but Rip grabbed her arm. "Another day, Miss Saunders." He nodded his head towards the door. Then, speaking in to the coms, he said, "Everyone fall back!" Savage and Chronos were distracted with each other. They could make their escape now.

The Legends ran from the asylum, once again failing to apprehend Savage. They boarded the Waverider from where Dez had Gideon park it outside the building, before flying off into the night sky.

* * *

Professor Stein and Ray, with the help of their robotic friend Gideon, managed to come up with a cure for the hawk experiments Savage had created within the next few hours. The Legends had rounded up all the kidnapped teens, giving them each a dose of the cure before sending them off to their families.

Deserey went with Jax to say goodbye to his one night girlfriend. He'd gotten her a new car, since Jax had completely ruined her dad's. (Apparently the damage had happened before Jax had stolen the police car, so Dez wasn't really sure about all the details. [ He'd given the police car back, by the way]) The girl grinned brightly, as the two pulled up to her in the shiny new vehicle.

"I feel bad about trashing your dad's," Jax told her, as he and Deserey got out. "So, I thought this might make up for it."

Betty glanced at the car, before looking back at Jax with wide eyes. "You bought me a car?"

"I suped it up, too," Jax told her, grinning back at her slightly. "Just in case of monster attacks."

They all laughed at the joke, and Betty glanced at Deserey smiling politely. "Glad to see your feeling better," she said.

Deserey smiled back. "We know...a really good doctor... Of sorts."

"Clearly," Betty nodded, like she didn't know she was actually referring to Gideon and the Waverider. Suddenly, she frowned. "I wish you didn't have to go..."

Jax shrugged. "We don't belong here. And neither do you. Promise me you'll get out of here... Both of you," he added, as her boyfriend Tommy, newly healed and back to human, walked up from behind her.

Betty frowned, confused for a moment, before turning around and spotting her boyfriend. She breathed out his name, nearly sobbing, as she wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

"It's a great big world out there, Betty," Jax said as one final goodbye. "And it's changing fast. Maybe we'll catch up down the road somewhere." He walked off, tapping Tommy on the shoulder as he passed by him.

Deserey nodded to the both of them, following Jax. As she went, she called out to the two teens over her shoulder, "Remember, reality is an illusion! The universe is a hologram! Buy gold! Bye!" She left the two, very confused fifties teenagers with that.

Jax gave her an odd look, as the two boarded the Waverider, smiling lightly. "What's up with you today?" he asked with a laugh.

She shrugged. "It was a good day."

"You got shot and almost killed by Chronos," he reminded her.

"I didn't say it was a perfect day." She shrugged again, as they walked towards the Bridge. He laughed again, as they met up with the others. Everyone gathered, seriously, around the console.

"Well, that was a bust," Leonard complained.

"Or was it?" Dez grinned. "I got to create the Family Guy intro!"

He chuckled at that, a sly grin on his face. "Or did you?"

Dez glared at him.

Rip sighed, ignoring them and grinning. Though he quickly grew serious again. "I owe you all an apology," he said gravely. "I should have told you before this was not my first attempt to vanquish Savage." He paused for a moment, taking in the shocked looks of his team. "The reason I failed before -"

"Is because you didn't have all of us," Ray put in.

Rip nodded. "But there is no point in continuing this further, unless we are all - and including myself - committed to working in concert."

Leonard shrugged, looking like he didn't really care about all these dramatics. "You won't ditch us, we won't ditch you. Deal?" Rip gave a curt nod of argument, when Gideon piped up.

"Sir, I've finished my review of the timeline," she said. "I calculate a ninety-eight percent likelihood that Savage reappears in 1986."

Ray made a face, as everyone moved to strap in. "Guess we're heading to the '80s. Better break out your parachute pants," he joked.

Jax frowned, not understanding what he was talking about. "What the hell are parachute pants?"

Deserey laughed loudly, making everyone give her a funny look. (Maybe she was still just a little too excited about creating Family Guy's intro early.) She covered her mouth as everyone stared at her, giggling childishly.

Rip smiled back at her lightly, settling himself into his seat. "Gideon, get us the hell out of the fifties!"

"Now he's getting it!" Deserey called as the others laughed. "You've mastered English!"

Rip rolled his eyes, as the ship took to the skys, time jumping away from the less than adequate time period.

* * *

Hahaha this chapter was an ordeal lemme tell ya... But it's done now. We're out of the 50s finally. The chapter is a bit longer (almost 6,000 words not counting the author's note) but...it's done. We're out of the 50s. We're moving on. It's okay. Phew.

I'm sorry this took so long to get up. I had to study for a psychology test that I just could not afford to fail. And then after wards I just kinda...slept? For a week? Yeah I know that sounds super healthy haha...

Anyway, it's up now so... Yup. Hopefully it wasn't too rushed. I was just bored of the 50s and wanted to move on already so I packed everything into this chapter.

I moved Len and Savage's exchange, you know the "robber of ATM" blah blah blah stuff up, because it made more sense to do it earlier in the story, considering Savage doesn't know anyone but the hawks yet and I have other plans for the end of the 'season'

Also, going in to this thing I wasn't planning a romance for Dez, but now I've been convinced to pair her up with Lenny boy. So ... Captain Sandy for the win I guess.

Alright, well it's 3:30 am, and this AN is extremely long now so...Ima yeet. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	21. Late Night Talks

Deserey couldn't sleep. The Legends had decided to park the ship in the Temporal Zone, banking on getting some rest before heading into the '80s, since apparently it was nearing one in the morning back in Central City. (Dez wasn't really sure why they decided to go by Central's time frame or even why the time mattered considering they were floating outside of it, but she was exhausted so she decided not to question it too much.)

She had entered her room, fully intent on getting some shut eye, but the moment her head hit the pillow she began tossing and turning. There were so many thoughts running through her head. The images that Rip had showed everyone that first night he gathered them on that roof swirled in her mind, accompanied by the almost disastrous Central City that would have resulted from Ray accidentally losing that piece of his suit.

That first fight with Chronos in the '70s crawled it's way into her head, followed by the big battle at the auction and the fight at the asylum. Her head was reeling, now that she had a moment to stop and think about it all. It had been cool in the moment, if not a bit terrifying. But now, laying there in her dark room, the gravity of the situation finally settled in. She could have died. They all could have died. Kendra had almost been raped, and she would have been, too, if Dez hadn't gotten there with Rip and Sara.

Ray had almost accidently caused World War III prematurely, and Deserey had been shot in the gut and left to bleed out. (Was it bad that that last one was the least of her concerns?) In the future millions, maybe billions, of people would die because of Vandal Savage; but the – for lack of a better word – Legends had failed to get Savage both times they'd gone after him so far. If anything they only escalated the issue and hurt themselves in the process. Were they really cut out for this? Those people… Those poor innocent people… They deserved better heroes…

Deserey tossed her blanket off to the side, growling in frustration. She wished her mind would just shut up for once. It was hard enough to sleep on a normal day, never mind after almost getting murdered and ruining everyone's lives. (Literally.)

"You seem to be having trouble sleeping, Miss Dunet," Gideon piped up, like Deserey didn't already know that. "Would you like me to prescribe you a sedative?"

It was a tempting idea, Dez had to admit. She belatedly wondered how much of the drug she'd be able to take before it killed her and if Gideon would be willing to give her that much. Shaking her head, Deserey decided against it. Rip would probably have ordered her against it anyway. (And she really didn't want to risk worrying any of the four people who knew her dark secret anymore than she had to. It was a miracle they even let her sleep in her room alone.)

So, Deserey turned her thoughts elsewhere. To the pronouns of their AI friend. She…

It seemed so natural to say, and yet Dez still had trouble wrapping her mind around the idea. Maybe it was just something to focus on, something better than the misfortunate future they were trying to stop, better than the suicidal thoughts swimming around in her head, like her mind was some kind of pool party.

From the knowledge her kids had shared with her (and her own experiences) Dez knew just how important pronouns could be. So, why then was it so natural for her – of all people – to just assume Gideon would use female pronouns? It had been bothering her since she came to in that drowsy state after the AI had healed her wound. She wasn't sure why it mattered so much (especially since everyone else just went with the female pronouns as well), but Deserey knew it was, even if Gideon was just a machine.

"No," Deserey said after a moment of contemplation. "But, uh, I do have a question…"

"Of course," Gideon said.

"What pronouns should I use for you?"

The AI was silent for a moment, and Deserey could have sworn Gideon was taken aback. "I'm not sure I understand the question."

"Pronouns," Deserey repeated. "He/him, she/her, they/them, ze/zem, etc. etc. Which ones do you prefer?"

Gideon stayed quiet for a moment longer, considering the question. The AI had clearly never been asked this question before. "I was modeled after a female human."

Deserey nodded slowly. She could tell Gideon wasn't really grasping the concept of gender identity, and she was trying to figure out the best way to explain it to the AI. "Okay…but do you feel like you are a female or…?"

"AI's aren't programed to experience feelings, Miss Dunet," Gideon told her. "Only mimic them."

"Uh…okay," Dez said slowly. "So…female pronouns?"

"If you wish."

"But what do you wish, Gideon?" she said, putting emphasis on the word 'you' so that Gideon understood her feelings were what mattered the most. Not Dez's. Deserey was growing a little frustrated. Not at Gideon. Just at the fact that this conversation was more complicated than she had anticipated. Did AI's really not have preferences? Desires? Was it all just fabricated? Fake? It seemed wrong, when they seemed so real…

Gideon was quiet for another minute, and Dez wondered if the AI was getting frustrated too. "I suppose you could just use she/her pronouns, like the person I was modeled after would have."

Dez sighed, glad that conversation was over with but still a little grumpy and unconvinced that that's what the AI actually preferred. Was she just saying that because that's what she looked like? Or did she actually believe she was female? Sure, she had just said all her feelings were fabricated, but somehow Dez still felt they were more authentic than that. Gideon seemed too much like a real person. How could she not feel anything? Regardless, she was using the female pronouns anyway. "Okay… Is anyone else up?"

"Captain Hunter is in the parlour," Gideon said. "Though I'm not sure he would like to be disturbed."

"Why?" Deserey wondered. "What's he doing in there?" She had half a mind to suggest he was jacking off, but she didn't think the AI would appreciate the dirty joke the way someone else – like Leonard for example – would.

"It is a private affair," Gideon said, which really didn't help Dez get her mind out of the gutter. She stood up, clearing her throat to cover up the laugh that wanted to escape her throat. "Well, I'm gonna go bug him anyways," she told Gideon.

She walked out of her room and padded down the hall towards the bridge. The halls were dark, as the lights were turned nearly all the way down so that the team could sleep, but somehow she managed to find her way without tripping over herself.

Rip had a lamp on in that little office of his, and he was slumped over in one of the arm chairs looking rather put out. In front of him, there was a holographic video playing: a beautiful brunette woman and gorgeous young blonde boy talking to Rip, telling him how much they loved and missed him.

With a start, Deserey realized this must've been his wife and child. Miranda and Jonas. His family… Deserey's heart twisted in her chest, and she suddenly felt very guilty about her dirty joke earlier. This must have been the last message Rip had gotten from his family before they had died…

Dez was about to turn around, feeling like she was intruding, but Rip looked up before she could move, spotting her in the doorway of the bridge. He hastily picked up one of his many remotes laying on the table in front of him, clumsily flicking the message off. Deserey frowned, slowly stepping further into the room. "They're your family?" she asked softly. From the broken look Rip gave her in response she knew she had guessed correctly. "I can go if you want…" She knew some people, herself included, didn't like others around when they were feeling down. Maybe Rip just needed to have a cry by himself…

But he shook his head, tiredly running a hand over his face, before jumping to his feet and looking a little more chipper. (Though Dez could tell it wasn't real.) "No. No, it's fine. Do you need anything?"

She shrugged walking to the doorway of the office and leaning in it. "Just bored. Can't sleep."

"Ah." He nodded slowly, shoving his hands in his pockets and shifting awkwardly. Maybe it was her mother instinct, maybe it was just because she was so tired of everyone feeling sorry for her that she wanted it to be the other way around for a change, but Deserey couldn't help shooting a worried look his way.

She felt guilty. He'd been through something so tragic: watching his family brutally murdered, helplessly standing by as his home burned to the ground around him. He had come from a war with many casualties. But she hadn't really stopped to consider that before now. She had been so wrapped up with herself and her own problems. How useless she was, how she would never live up to the name Legend, how she'd almost been killed.

The mere image of that dreadful future was enough to give Deserey nightmares and keep her up all night. But Rip? He had actually lived through it. She couldn't imagine how he must have been feeling, and she had never even stopped to try because he always seemed so composed when the team was formulating plans. (Well, except when they screwed up…)

"I'm sorry," she whispered. She tossed her hand up limply, before letting it hit her leg softly. "Here I am whining about being bored and you…" She sighed. "I'm sorry…"

Rip shrugged as if he didn't care. Or maybe he just wasn't sure what to make of her apology. Either way, it did nothing to assure Dez that he was alright. (And honestly he probably wasn't. No sane person would be…)

Deserey glanced over to the spot on the floor where the hologram had been moments before. "She's really pretty," she commented. "And your boy looks just like you…"

Rip made a soft hum, nodding once more. "Miss Lance said the same thing," he muttered.

Deserey raised an eyebrow at him. "Sara saw this too?"

He shook his head, grinning sheepishly like he thought she might call him stupid for it. "I have pictures of them too."

"Oh." She pushed herself off the wall, heading deeper into the parlour, until she was sitting in the recliner across from the one Rip had been sitting in. "You know you don't have to be embarrassed about missing them," she told him, and she cringed at how much she sounded like her latest therapist. "They died in one of the most awful ways possible. Of course you miss them."

Rip hovered in his standing position for a moment, looking thoughtful. He pulled his hands from his pockets finally and awkwardly sat back down. He didn't say anything though. So, Dez hastily added, "But I get it. Sometimes it feels like you're a bother, or it's just too hard, or you don't want to seem weak. Sometimes you just want to lock yourself up in your favorite room and let it all consume you…and sometimes you just need someone to sit with you through it. Even if you don't say anything…"

Rip sat silently, not moving a muscle for the longest time. Deserey didn't say anything else. She didn't want to scare him off or annoy him with stupid, cheesy words that never quite worked the way they were suppose to. If he wanted to talk about it, he would. And if he didn't… well, that was fine too.

Dez lifted her feet off the floor, curling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs. She and Rip stared at opposite walls, sitting in a silence that bordered between awkward and comfortable. She let the thoughts of those images pass through her mind once more; she let herself remember those fights with Savage and Chronos. Because the shudder that trembled through her whole body was nothing compared to what Rip must've been feeling. She let herself be consumed by the awful pictures of those dead children, that vast wasteland the people of the future were forced to call home.

Deserey wasn't sure how much time had past, but when she finally looked away from the wall she started seeing white spots dancing in her eyes. Her body was stiff, the way it normally got when she spent hours on a drawing, but this time there wasn't a beautiful portrait she could hang on the wall staring back at her. This time there was only empty space. On the wall. In her heart. All around the ship. Nothing but empty space…

Rip spoke suddenly, startling her slightly. "He wanted to learn to swim." And at her confused look, he added, "Jonas." After a pause. "I never did get to teach him…There never seemed to be enough…time. Ironically…"

She glanced at him solemnly. It was strange how hallow his voice sounded. "How old was he?" she asked carefully.

"He would have been eight as of two days ago…Well according to the date I left 2166 anyway…"

Deserey blanched. He'd gathered them all on his son's birthday? The boy had died just before one of the most pivotal moments in a child's life time. And Rip hadn't even mentioned it… (Though, Dez supposed, he didn't really have a reason to do so.)

Rip sat back in his chair, staring at the wall with an empty look in his eyes. He seemed to be lost in his thoughts, and she thought maybe he was remembering his family. She sat up and stared at him until he glanced back at her with a concerned expression, like maybe he thought she'd lost her marbles.

"This is going to sound like such a mom thing to ask," she said, "but have you slept since they…you know?" She trailed off, not really sure if it would be appropriate for her to keep talking about his family's murder so bluntly. "Have you even eaten anything?"

He shifted a little uncomfortably. "Of course, I –"

"Gideon, is that true?" Deserey asked, glancing up at the ceiling for the AI's input.

"It is not," Gideon confirmed. Rip gave the ceiling a rather offended look, letting out a sharp, "Oi!" in protest.

Dez smirked, but she quickly grew serious again. Jumping to her feet, she started tugging on Rip's arm, forcing him up too. "C'mon. We're going to the galley to get something to munch on. Then, you're gonna go to sleep."

"Why are you mothering me?" Rip complained as she drug him off to the kitchen. "I thought we were all supposed to be taking care of you. Not the other way around."

Deserey shrugged. "I don't want to kill myself right this second, so you're off the clock. Besides, I'm a mom. It's my job to mother people."

"Yes," Rip said. "Your own children. Not your captain!" But they were already half way to the galley by that point, and Deserey wasn't going to give up. So, Rip had no choice but to accept his fate.

When they got to the galley, Deserey steered Rip over to the dining table and made him sit, before making her way into the kitchen to find something light. Scrolling through the food selections Gideon offered, Deserey finally settled on a plate full of turkey and two glasses of iced tea.

Rip tilted his head at the selection, when she set it down on the table. "Why tea? Because I'm British? You know, that's a stereotype! Not all of us drink tea!"

Deserey shot him a look, as she sat across from him. "I've seen you drink tea before."

"Yes," Rip agreed. "But that's besides the point!"

She rolled her eyes at him, scooting the plate closer to him. "Just shut up and eat, Cap."

"Blimey, you're strict," Rip muttered, stalling a bit longer. "Bit like my own mother." He picked up a piece of the turkey at Deserey's stern glare. The look didn't disappear until he'd popped it in his mouth, chewed, and swallowed.

Deserey grinned at having successfully gotten the Waverider's captain to eat. She reached over, grabbing a piece of turkey for herself. "So I remind you of your mom, huh?"

Rip nodded, taking a long sip of tea before he responded. "Adoptive mother. But still my mother." He shrugged, as he took another piece of turkey. "Not sure what happened to the bio parents. But then…none of the Time Masters really do." He shrugged indifferently.

Deserey hummed, eating another piece of turkey and taking a sip from her tea. "That's kind of odd…"

"Huh? How so?" He took another sip from his cup, eyeing her curiously.

She shrugged. "I mean, you all just happen to be orphans? Kind of a weird coincidence, don't you think?"

He gave her his own shrug in return. "I never really thought about it before. Time Masters can't do any harm to the time line, so they recruit orphans. That way they don't disrupt the natural flow of time by taking children away from their parents. It's the same reason they have us change our names."

"Well, yeah. But I mean –" Deserey shifted in her chair, moving so that she could sit on her knees. She was about to express more confusion, when her mind decided to go elsewhere. "Wait. Rip isn't your real name?"

"Of course it's my real name," he told her, sitting up slightly. "It's just not my birth name."

She nodded slowly, chewing on another piece of turkey. "Makes sense. Deserey isn't my birth name either." Her eyes widened, as she realized what she'd just said, when Rip squinted at her in befuddlement. "My parents and I had a fight, when I was a teen," she added hastily. "So I changed my name to spite them."

It was a vague summary of that night, but Rip didn't need to know all the details. He didn't need to know what the fight was about or that they tossed her out of the house afterwards. He didn't need to know about the years that followed, when she was forced to live on the streets because not even her best friend would allow her to stay with them. And really didn't need to know that the first time she fell in love was on those streets. Or that that love had ended horrifically. And he really didn't need to know that all of that was the reason she wanted to kill herself.

Besides, she did her best not to think about that night, and recounting the whole story to the captain might just cause the waves of despair to come crashing down upon her again. Then, there was the fact that telling him just might have the same results as that night… He could kick her out the moment he knew the truth. She eyed him carefully. The captain didn't really seem like the sort of person who'd do something so drastic over something so small… then again, her parents hadn't seemed like the type either…

Dez shoved the thought out of her head. She didn't want to think about it. Not now. Not ever. Thankfully, Rip didn't ask about it. Instead, the two just silently finished the plate of turkey and drank the rest of their tea, before placing the dishes in the sink. Then, Deserey walked the captain to his room, just to make sure he actually went to bed.

Rip complained about, but Dez insisted. She wasn't satisfied until she saw him climb into the bed. Part of her wanted to tuck him in like a five year old and maybe even read him a bed time story, (that had been her favorite thing to do with her kids when they were younger) but considering he was a grown man it would probably be pretty weird. So, she opted for just turning out his light and whispering a small, "Goodnight, Cap." Then, she trotted back to her own room, hoping to get some sleep herself.

* * *

To make up for the long wait of the last update, here's a much quicker update! Just a bit of Dezzie getting to be a mom. (She'll have plenty more mom scenes where that came from, so hopefully you liked it!) And I've started hinting at Dezzie's back story a bit with some vague information. (Don't worry, you'll get the fully story when we reach the Pilgrim episode) But I'm curious. Any theories about what the full, detailed story is? What do you think the argument Dez had with her parents was about?

Next update we'll have another interlude, before finally getting into White Knights and Fail-Safe! Then...some more changes from the canon script, bahaha!

Also, I made an edit, and I'm proud of it. So, I'm gonna show it to y'all. (see picture on wattpad)

Isn't it neat?

Well I hope y'all like it and enjoyed this chapter!

That's all for now, Toodles!

~ Elsie


	22. Interlude 2

In Heinz site, Anita could see why following some strange, forty something year old man into an alley might have been a bad idea. The city was full of all sort of creeps, especially since the meta human criminals had started popping up. One could never be too careful. Still, the Flash usually showed up to save the day. (She wasn't sure how he knew people were in danger, but she figured he'd probably show up if something happened. He was the city's designated super hero after all.)

Anita paused at the entrance of the alley, frowning when the mystery man headed towards the dumpster just below the fire escape of the nearby building. "What? Is your time machine a trash can?"

He turned and gave her a look of pure disgust. "Don't be stupid. Trash cans can't be time machines. Do you know how badly a person would smell, if they went around traveling in a garbage container? How would you get a thing like that to move through time anyway?"

Anita rolled her eyes and shrugged dramatically. This guy was being chased through her school by a flame throwing meta human, but a time traveling dumpster was too unbelievable? Sure, why not? "Okay. Then, where is your time machine?"

The man turned again, moving swiftly as he reached behind the dumpster and pulled out a thick, leather bound history book. It looked suspiciously like some warn down version of the books she used in her fifth period class. (Same color scheme and everything. Right down to that crude drawing of a Vikings helmet and war ship.) Anita raised her eyebrow at him. "So...it's not the dumpster, but it's behind it?"

He nodded, like that made much more sense. Anita still wasn't convinced. So, she asked, "And it's a history book?"

"Yup. I stashed it here, when that rude fire guy stole the front page, which I need to go home. He set it on fire when I tried stealing it back before. So, I figured I'd better keep the rest of the book safe while I track him down. It's the only one I've got...Well, actually it's not just this one." The mystery man nodded, shifting the book in his hands so that he could hold it up for her. "This one only takes you through the twenty-first century. There's more books back at the lodge, but this one's the only one I brought with me."

"The lodge?"

"Yeah," he nodded.

"...Right. Well, if your 'time machine' is a bunch of books then what did you have to steal? How do books need to be fixed? The front page or..?" Anita wondered. She flexed her fingers, using air quotes, as she said the words time machine.

"Oh! Right! I'll show you. Hold on." The mystery man reached in his pocket, either not noticing her sarcasm or not caring about it. When he withdrew his hand from his pocket, he was holding a piece of paper: something that looked like a publication page. Only, instead of the name of a publishing company it just had The Lodge written in big fancy, curly letters right smack dab in the center of the page. The corners of the paper were a little singed from where - apparently - the flaming meta human had set fire to it, when the mystery man had been stealing it back. From the burnt pieces of the page, Anita could see a few lose wires poking out as well.

Anita watched as the man flipped the book to the first page. He placed the page inside the book carefully, aiming his watch at the book's spine. She frowned, as the page slowly began fixing itself up... Well, sort of. The burnt edges were still there, of course. (It wasn't magic after all.) But the left side of the paper began reattaching itself to the book's hinges. The wires mended themselves, stitching together just enough that they weren't just hanging limply; after a moment, the page looked completely normal (aside from the varies singes). One wouldn't even be able to tell it had wires inside of it (as long as they didn't look too closely that is). The only sign that it had ever been ripped out of the book at all was the small hair line tear along the left edge of the page.

"Whoa," Anita muttered. She blinked, not really believing what she was seeing. That couldn't be real could it? Sure, there were meta humans and vigilante's, but magically repairing (almost repairing) a book had to be imposible. Right? Yet, there it was...happening right before her eyes. And seeing was believing wasn't it?

The mystery man nodded, grinning lightly, as he held up the now (mostly) repaired book. "Yup. So...That's it."

"That's it?" Anita frowned. And when he just nodded and shrugged, she shook her head. "But how does it work? Do you just point to a page or?"

"Well, I could show you, but..." He trailed off awkwardly, looking rather uncomfortable.

Anita titled her head to the side, frowning. Why was he being weird all of a sudden? He had come to her school and brought her all the way out here to see the stupid thing, but now he wasn't even going to show her how it worked? "But what?"

The man shuffled his feet, tucking the book under his arm. "It's just..." He shook his head, forgetting about whatever he'd been about to say and instead going with, "Well, don't you have a family you've got to get back to? They'll probably be worried after that human torch attacked your school."

She stared at him, unamused. "I use to watch Doctor Who with my mom. I know how time travel works," she insisted. "You can just drop me off here again, and my family will never know."

For some reason, that sentence seemed to make the man all the more uneasy. Anita stared at him, not understanding, until he let out a heavy sigh, finally relenting. "You're what? Eleven? Twelve?"

"Yeah?" Anita frowned. "So?"

"So, you're a kid. And I'm an adult male! People get suspicious about that!"

She opened her mouth to say something, as the thought sank in. But no words came out. It was something that hadn't really occurred to her. Any suspicion that the man had ill intent had been tossed out as soon as he mentioned a time machine. "You're worried people will think you're a pedophile?"

The man didn't say anything, but she could tell from the look on his face that that was, in fact, the case. She snorted at the expression. He was something of a big man child. How could anyone think he'd hurt someone? "We'll just tell anyone who asks that you're my father."

The man eyed her skeptically, and for a moment Anita was confused again, before taking another glance at him. She looked down at her own hand, making a face. Her skin was a trifle too dark for her to be his daughter. "...Step father," she added.

He frowned for a moment longer, before breaking out into a grin. "That sounds plausible. Okay. Come on, then!"

She stepped forward, eyeing the book curiously. "You still haven't told me how this thing works," she said, poking the cover of the book. The man held it up, opening it up to the burnt page once more.

"Right," he nodded. "It's kind of ruined now, but I think it'll be good enough to get us back to the Lodge. And from there we can go to any time period that ever was or ever will be. Just hold on to it here." He gestured at the spine of the book. "Oh, and be sure to bend your knees. It's kind of hard to land upright when traveling like this."

Anita shot him a look, as she grabbed hold of the book. "Like this? How many other ways are there to travel through time?"

He shrugged. "Oh, at least two. Three if you count speedsters. The Time Masters use ships. The Bureau uses time couriers. Kinda like this." He tapped his watch. "But mine is cooler."

"...Wait. Time Masters? Bureau? What do you -"

Anita was cut off, when the man dog eared the burnt edge of the page, closing the book a second later. "Hold on tight," he told her. "Not sure where you'll end up if you let go too soon."

The book began humming in their hands, and Anita felt it vibrate a little. It was a bit odd, but she supposed this thing just looked like a book. It was actually a machine. The mans eyes widened, like he just remembered something. "Oh! I almost forgot. There's side effects!"

"Side effects?" Anita asked. Too late. A small rectangular object that looked suspiciously like a book mark projected from the top of the book. A round, glowing, blue sphere (she guessed it was some sort of time travel protection to keep their faces from peeling off) emitted from the book mark, forming around them; and the two disappeared in the blink of an eye.

For a moment, all Anita could see was the color green. Her breath hitched at the sight. It was like something right out of one of those old timey dance videos with the green screen and bright, neon colors. The ground was no longer under her feet, like everything in existence had just disappeared. All that was left were these green waves, dancing gracefully. The sight made Anita's heart skip a beat. It was absolutely gorgeous. She had half a mind to break out into choreography, but she remembered what the man had told her about holding on to the book and decided against it.

Wind rustled her hair, though she wasn't sure where it was coming from. Her body felt weightless, and for a moment she worried she'd start floating away. She tightened her grip on the book, not wanting to lose it. And that's when she realized it was the only thing she could really feel. She couldn't even sense the blue ball surrounding her, even when she tried touching it with her toes. It was there, but she couldn't feel it.

Her jaw clenched at the realization. She couldn't feel anything. Except for her hand, her whole body was numb, as if all the nerves in her body had just given out. As if she were completely paralyzed. She didn't even have that tingling sensation people got when their feet fell asleep. There was just...nothing. Panic settled in for a moment, but she relaxed when she realized she could still move her legs.

She glanced at the man. He seemed perfectly calm, as if he had done this a million times. There was no excitement at the scenery either, like he'd already grown use to seeing it every time he time traveled. (He probably had.) There was no indication that he felt the same weightlessness or numbness that Anita did, though maybe he had just gotten use to that too. Anita gripped the book even tighter, wanting to feel something... and then all of a sudden she didn't.

In a matter of seconds, everything changed. Like a light switch, her nerves flicked on again, and she gasped as the feeling returned to her body all at once. Like stepping out into a harsh winter night, a cold breeze of air slammed into Anita's face, withdrawing a gasp from the teenager. The cold was so shocking that she forgot to bend her knees as she had been instructed to do, and Anita fell to floor with a yelp.

The man laughed lightly, as he helped her up. "Told you. Hard to land upright." She shivered, taking in her surroundings. They were no longer in the green pool. Instead, they stood in a cozy little room with matching wood floors and ceiling. To the right there was a brick wall next to a book shelf. Two reclining chairs sat in the center of the room, lamps behind them and a rug underneath them. On the back wall, three rows of square windows were strategically aligned with another. In front of the windows and in between the two chairs was a small table, a potted plant upon it surface.

Anita wrapped her arms around herself, her teeth clattering together. "This is the Lodge?"

The man nodded, setting the book down on the shelf. "What do you think?"

"I think it's freezing in here..."

He frowned. "Really? Must be a time travel side effect, because I don't feel it. Which is good. I hate the cold. Come on. There's a fire place downstairs. It'll warm you up."

Anita followed him down the hall, taking note of the house's set up. There were paintings all along the walls. (One of the paintings even looked a little too identical to the Mona Lisa.) On the desks and tables in the rooms they past were random knickknacks and junk from (Anita guessed) all throughout the time line. There seemed to be a surplus of bedrooms and studies, but as far as Anita knew this man was the only one who actually lived her.

And there didn't seem to be any pictures. Nothing to indicate this man had any friends or family of any kind. She knew he couldn't remember who he was, but surely he still had people in his life, didn't he? There had to be someone out there waiting for him to come back to them...right? Anita was about to ask about it when another shudder was sent through her body, making her teeth chatter too much to speak.

They rounded the corner, passing the bathroom and a set of large, wooden doors, closed that Anita couldn't see inside the room. To the left, windows lined the wall from ceiling to floor, revealing a beautiful forest just a few feet away from the house. Anita made a mental note to check it out later, as the man lead her through a small doorway and down a flight of cobblestone stairs.

To the left of the stairs was a massive, brick fireplace as promised, two leather chairs on either side of it as promised. Across from the fire place sat a comfortable looking couch and a coffee table. Above, there was a round chandelier. Still no pictures on the walls...

Anita shook the thought away, hurrying to sit in one of the chairs by the fire place, rubbing her arms. Once she felt the heat from the flames, Anita relaxed, letting out a soft sigh...before sitting up abruptly, realizing something. "Do you just leave this fire on all the time?"

The man shrugged, perching himself on the arm rest of the other chair. "So what if I do?"

Anita stared at him with wide eyes. "Uh, dude! You're going to burn your house down!"

He shook his head. "No I won't. Patch always watches the place when I'm gone. So, he'll take care of anything that goes awry. Even runaway flames."

"Patch?" Anita asked. Before the man could explain, a white tom cat with black patches all over his fur sauntered in from the kitchen - the room behind the couch. The cat stretched out on the floor, yawning. Then, he walked over and sat in front of Anita, looking up at her with interest. She looked back down at him, letting out a surprised gasp, when she noticed he had two different eye colors: one golden brownish-orange (the right eyes) and one ocean blue (the left eye).

Anita looked back at the man. "You have a cat?"

He nodded. "He's holographic."

"What do you -" The cat's body flickered, static running along his form from his pointy ears to his fluffy tail. "Oh," Anita said, nodding slowly. "I get it now..."

"Yeah," the man shrugged. "He's programmed into the house. So, he can pretty much run the place when he feels like it. Which is most of the time, because he doesn't like the way I fold the towels."

" ...Right," Anita said slowly. She decided not the comment on the weird dynamic this guy had with his house pet. Instead, she chose to focus on something far more pressing. "Wait. So, you named a hologram before you named yourself?"

Patch let out an indignant hiss at that statement, which made the man snort. And Anita swore that the cat walked off in a huff. The man shifted awkwardly once the cat made his way up the stairs and out of the room. He fiddled with his glasses (a nervous tick Anita also had, strangely enough). "I already have a name," the man reminded her. "But -"

"You can't remember it. I know," Anita said. "But what am I supposed to call you until you figure out what it is? Mystery Dude?"

The man made a face. "Eh. No. Not that."

"What about the Doctor?" she suggested. "You kind of act like him. And you quoting him earlier. Oh! Does that make me Rose Tyler?"

The man shook his head. "I think that would be copyright infringement, wouldn't it?" He looked back at her, and she could tell this whole name thing was really getting to him. He didn't want to be called anything except his real name...except he had no idea what that was. She frowned. That must have been infuriating. Anita had never not known her own name; she couldn't imagine what it must've been like, not knowing. Not remembering anything of real significance. Not remembering your values or beliefs... your family...your friends...even yourself... All of that was just gone for him. How tragic...

Anita shoved those terrible thoughts away. It would be better to keep things light for now. "What about Oculus?"

"Oculus? That's a funny word. Where'd you come up with something like that?" He tilted his head at her.

She pointed to his wrist. "It's on your watch."

He lifted his arm so he could take a look, grinning lightly, when he spotted the word printed on the face of the watch, like he hadn't noticed it before. "So it does. Okay, then. I guess that's better than no name at all. Oculus it is."

"Cool." Anita nodded. She stood up, feeling thoroughly warm now that she had spent a few minutes by the fire. "So, what year is this? Can we go exploring?"

The newly named Oculus shrugged once more, standing himself. "2056. And I don't see why we couldn't."

Anita grinned. "Sweet." She ran to the front door, the man walking behind her in a much calmer manner.

The exterior of the house was made from a fine red brick and black roof tiles. Off to the left, a garage was attached to the house. It was opened up so that they could see inside, Anita didn't see any cars. There wasn't much of anything in there at all, really. Just this big, metal machine with bars bent so that they were in the shape of a sphere, similar to the one that surrounded the duo when they time jumped, and a chair in the middle.

Anita nodded at the machine. "What's that?"

Oculus glanced at the machine, and his face contorted in to a perplexed expression. "I'm not actually sure. But I came here in it. I think it was a time machine, but it's broken now. That's why I use the books in the library instead."

Anita nodded, walking closer and crouching on her knees to examine it. The thing had a faint blue glow, four stands on the bottom to keep it up right. It didn't look like much, and Anita couldn't see an engine. So, she wasn't sure how it was supposed to start up. But something did catch her eye. A name on the back of the seat. Cisco Ramon.

"That's the guy who made this thing, I think," Oculus said, taking note of the name as well. "His name's on the books too."

"Maybe you knew him," Anita guessed. "He could have given you all this." She gestured around her, indicating the time machines and the Lodge. (And, to a lesser extent, Patch.)

"I don't know," Oculus said quietly. Anita figured he must have already had the same thoughts and dismissed them. "If that's true, then why can't I remember it? And if I was friends with this Cisco guy, then why isn't he here now? Why would he leave his things with me?"

"Well," Anita said, jumping to her feet. "The stamp says Star Labs next to his name. So, he probably works there. Let's go find him and ask him."

Oculus shook his head. "I've already tried looking for him. I don't think he's anywhere in Central City anymore."

She shrugged. "Well, maybe you missed something. Star Labs is a pretty big place."

"True..." He didn't sound very convinced though.

Anita smiled optimistically. Maybe she was just glad for the distraction from her own problems, or maybe the prospect of solving a mystery excited her, or maybe it was just thrilling to know that she was standing in Central City... forty years in the future. She wasn't sure, but in that moment, she was absolutely happy. It was the best mood she'd been in since she'd moved in with her dad full time. "So, how do we get inside? Can we just...walk in?"

"They turned it into a museum about twenty years ago," Oculus explained. "We can buy tickets for the tour and sneak off from the group."

"Is that what you did last time?" Anita snorted.

"...Maybe."

She laughed. "Okay! Let's go!"

* * *

Okay, so this is a little longer than the first interlude, but that's okay, isn't it? Hopefully...

I hope you guys are liking Anita and her story so far. (Small spoiler: Her brother will be joining them shortly) What do y'all think about Oculus being a person instead of a machine? Is that a cool change or do y'all hate it? Any theories on who he really is yet?

I spent, like, all week writing this. It was really fun. I had fun making up my own things for time travel. (The books) I wanted something a bit different for Oculus, and I don't think I've seen anyone else use that sort of thing before. But you know what a better thing to take you through history than a history book, right?

I name dropped Cisco, but (small spoiler) he won't actually make an appearance. So, don't get your hopes up. I know he was at the begining, and he'll be in the crossovers when we get there...but if Oculus meets him now then the mystery will be solved much too soon. So...yep.

Kay. I'll stop bothering y'all.

that's all for now, toodles!

~ Elsie


	23. Anger, Bloodlusts, and Spywork

The next morning Deserey had trouble getting out of bed. It happened more often than not, especially on her bad days. She could spend a whole twelve hours just laying in bed, wasting away if no one bothered her. And she would be okay with that usually. If anything she'd feel a bit useless, since she wouldn't get anything done by sleeping. But she'd feel useless either way.

She would have stayed in bed that day too, (screw the eighties and Savage. Sleep was much more likeable) if it hadn't been for the shouting from down the hall. It sounded like Rip and Sara were arguing about something.

"—what I saw back at the asylum was an animal!" Rip was saying. Deserey cringed, shoving her head into her pillow, trying to block it out. Her head was already killing her, and the yelling didn't do much to ease the aching.

"You are the last person on this ship to judge anyone!" Sara shouted back. It sounded like she was getting worked up, and Deserey felt bad that her first instinct was to inwardly call her whiny and burrow deeper into her pillow.

"This isn't judgment, Sara," Rip insisted, making Deserey growl in annoyance. Why couldn't they just shut up? At the very least they could argue somewhere else. "It is concern!"

There was a pause, and Dez sighed in relief, thinking it was over. She rolled over, snuggling in her blanket, hoping to fall back asleep. Maybe her head would feel better if she got a few extra hours… And she was almost asleep when they started up again.

"I thought you knew how I was resurrected…" Sara muttered quietly. (But not quietly enough that Deserey couldn't still hear it, unfortunately.) Dez sat up, groaning loudly, throwing her blanket across the room as she did so.

"I knew it involved something called the Lazerus Pit…" Rip told Sara, as Deserey stood up, grumbling under her breath. Moodily, she got dressed, her head pounding more violently as her irritation grew larger and larger. Clearly, this was going to be one of those days where everything irritated her, no matter how mild the situation was. Great. Just fucking great.

"Yeah, well apparently there's a down side to being brought back from the dead," Sara complained, and Deserey rolled her eyes. She couldn't help thinking that was obvious. Who the hell would want to come back to this shit hole once they were freed by the sweet release of death? But that wasn't exactly what the assassin had meant. She wasn't talking about depression or a few years of bad luck; she was talking about something far worse, as was made evident by her next sentence. "My friend Thea calls it a blood lust, but I think that's putting it too lightly… And so is calling me an animal. I'm a monster."

Deserey froze, as she reached for the button on the wall that would slide her door open. Blood lust? As in murder? Dez wasn't sure why it was so shocking. She knew that Sara was an assassin, but she had never actually heard her talk about it before. Never mind phrase it in such a harsh and heinous way like blood lust. Deserey felt a pang of sympathy for her. (Though a great deal of the initial annoyance was still laying there beneath the surface.)

She took a deep breath, trying to get a hold of her nerves and take control of her emotions before she went anywhere. It wouldn't do anyone any good if she walked out and started bighting everyone's heads off, especially if Sara was already having a bad day herself. She would just have to shove her own problems down like she always did. (It wasn't like they were that important anyway. Just her being a massive bitch to everyone in her head.)

Deserey sighed, running her hand along the wall and letting it slide open. As soon as Dez stepped out into the hallway, she and Sara collided, both women crumbling to the floor. Deserey groaned, her irritation rising to a nearly uncontrollable rate. She gritted her teeth, trying her best not to let something rude slip from her lips. Sara was one person she really did not want to piss off.

Sara made a small groan of her own, but hers sounded more sad than Deserey's, like she wasn't really mad at her. Just the world. (And Deserey would have been lying if she said she couldn't relate.) "I'm sorry," Sara said, helping Deserey to her feet. "I wasn't watching where I was going. Rip and I were fighting and…" She shrugged helplessly.

"I heard," Dez said, doing her best not to sound angry about it. "Wanna talk about it?" She wasn't sure she was in the right head space to console the other woman, but she figured it wouldn't hurt to offer anyway.

Sara shook her head so quickly, Dez worried she might get whiplash. "No, no. I'm…well not good. But…I don't really like talking if I can help it, you know?"

Deserey nodded in understanding. She was often the same way, especially when she was in a sadder mood. (It was strange. Normally, when she was angry she blew up, exploding at the littlest things and ranting about anything and everything that might be bothering her. But when she was sad, she shut down completely. She didn't talk to anyone, despite their constant insisting that it would make her feel better. She'd stay in bed for days at a time, crying every moment she was actually awake.)

"I do feel like hitting something though, if you want to train," Sara suggested.

"You know, I don't think I can take you," Dez admitted. "But I'm in a mood myself, so I'll take that offer."

Sara smiled lightly, and Deserey took note of how beautiful she was even if the smile was forced. She was absolutely stunning, and Dez couldn't help feeling a little jealous. This woman…she was everything Deserey wanted to be. She looked exactly how she wanted to look. Perfect, straight blonde hair, beautiful pale skin, and gorgeous curves in all the right places. Her blue eyes were absolutely stunning, like the water at the beach when the sea was calm. Sara even had an amazing personality to go with her looks. And that only added to her perfection. Deserey wondered how someone like her could possibly think she was a monster…

Dez shook the thought away, as they walked to the training area Rip had offered them back in the seventies. (Was it weird that their first mission already seemed like it had happened a lifetime ago?) Sara picked up her bag full of knives and started tossing them at the target board across the room. Deserey wrapped her hands up as best she could and walked over to the punching bag Sara had set up the last time they'd been in here. (Though they had never gotten to actually use it then.) She started punching the bag as hard as she could, hoping to get all her aggression out before meeting any of the others.

Dez hadn't noticed Sara had stopped throwing her knives, until she heard her impressed whistle. "Damn," the assassin mumbled. "You were really holding back on me last time weren't you? Where'd you learn to hit like that?" Dez glanced up to see her standing in front of her with her arms folded over her chest.

She shrugged, trying not to cringe as the memory came flooding back to her. But she couldn't hold it back, and it did little to tame her anger. If anything, her headache worsened as she remembered her first time at the gym with her father. "My dad taught me when I was a kid." She hit the bag again, making it swing back a little. "But it's not that impressive, Barbie. Especially compared to what you can do. Anyone can hit a bag."

"Yeah," Sara admitted. "But you have to be taught how to do it right if you don't want to throw your arm out."

Dez shrugged. "Whatever." She hit the bag again. Her head was pounding, screeching every time her fist hit the bag. She groaned, punching the bag harder, making it swing again… Which turned out to be a mistake, because the bag came back around, slamming Dez into the ground for the second time that morning. Sara frowned, as she helped her up again. "Are you okay?"

"Peachy," Dez hissed, rubbing her face. Now her head really hurt…

"…You wanna talk about it?"

"I don't know, Sara. Jesus, what's with all the questions?" She didn't mean to snap, but the morning aggression had finally gotten the best of her. Fortunately, Sara's skin was a lot thicker than Deserey's, so instead of getting offended by her sudden attitude, she just stared back at her calmly and asked, "Bad day?"

"Most likely," Dez said bitterly. And then, because she never really could keep it to herself for very long, she exploded. "It's just I woke up to you and Rip arguing, and I know it sounds really bitchy – and I'm sorry for that – but it annoyed me. A lot more than it should. And I couldn't sleep last night, so everything is terrible, and I just want to go back to bed. I have a headache. I'm tired. I'm whiny. I want to sleep forever. But I already know Rip wants everyone to go out and do whatever in the eighties, even though we'll probably just screw it up like we screw everything else up."

Sara stared back at her, nodding slowly, and Deserey felt a little self conscious. Had she said too much? Was it too rude? This was exactly the sort of thing that made people hate her before…

"I get it," Sara said. She didn't sound upset or even hurt in the slightest, which made Dez relax a little. "I feel it too, sometimes. I mean, why are we still trying if we can't get anything right? And sometimes the little things just make everything else spill over…"

"Yeah," Dez said, because that's exactly how it was. She shook her head, letting out a heavy sigh. "Whatever. It's not that important. I'm sorry for snapping."

Sara gave her a one armed shrug in response. "It's okay. Sometimes you just need to vent. I get that."

"Really? Are you sure?" Dez asked. She wasn't sure why Sara's cavalier attitude was bothering her so much. Maybe it was just that no one had ever responded that way before. So, it was a little difficult to fathom.

"Yeah," Sara promised. "I mean, I'm not thrilled about it, but I get it. So, it's okay… But if you really want to make it up to me you can do my laundry for the next week." She grinned cheekily, and Dez rolled her eyes.

"What am I? Your mother?" Deserey managed a small laugh.

"You're my friend," Sara said, smiling back at her. For a moment the anger had slipped away, replaced with a warm, fuzzy feeling that Dez hadn't experienced in a very long time. It was partly because it was nice to see Sara smiling a real, genuine smile. (She hadn't really done that since they'd boarder the Waverider.) And it was partly because Dez hadn't felt she had a real friendship since her last one (in college) crashed and burned so terribly. (It had been a few years ago. She'd been best friends with someone called Lucy, but they both had their own mental illnesses to deal with. So, they were driven apart rather quickly.)

"…Friends get tired," Dez said, looking down, as the memories of Lucy overcame her. She had Dissociative Identity Disorder, Lucy. And in college she'd been trying to figure out how to deal with that. It had been much too difficult to manage that as well as taking care of Dez. Deserey had tried not to get in the way, tried not to be a burden to her. She wanted her to take care of herself first. Dez wasn't that important really. (And Rip had confirmed that by forming this team.) But it hadn't worked out. Lucy grew tired of taking care of the both of them. So, she had to let her go…

Sara shrugged once more, picking up her boe staff. "I don't tire easy." She swung the staff around, spinning it in her palms until it came to a gentle shop just below her armpit. "Hey, you got more sand in the fifties right? You wanna see if you have any more hidden abilities you didn't know about?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Dez said. She was still processing the assassin's words though. She wasn't use to people being so stubbornly supportive. "I'll, uh, go get my bag…"

Dez left Sara to beat up the mannequin, heading back to her room where she had left her sand bag. When she returned, she found that Sara was still full of energy somehow. "Alright, Barbie, let's do this!" She wasn't as enthusiastic as the blonde was, but she figured letting her beat her up was a good way to make up for snapping at her.

Sara smirked, holding up her boe staff. She swung her weapon at Desesrey, and Dez moved as quickly as she could, tossing a handful of sand at the assassin. The sand shot outward in a powerful blast, pushing Sara back a few feet; but the sand blast didn't hit its mark before Sara's staff met its. The metal weapon hit Dez on the knee and knocked her to the floor for the third time.

"Ugh," Sara complained, rubbing sand from her eyes. "Remind me to get goggles for the next time we do this…"

"Sorry…" Deserey muttered, getting to her feet.

"It's fine. Let's go again."

Dez nodded, raising her hands and lifting the sand from the floor. (It was better not to waste the supply she had in her bag.) She twirled her hands around, forming a small sandstorm around the assassin, taking care not to get any near her eyes.

Sara charged through the sand storm, slamming the Dez to the ground once more with the butt of her staff. Deserey grunted as her back hit the floor. "Hey! I said I was sorry!" Dez complained, laughing lightly, because at first she thought the assassin was just messing around.

Then, she saw how the look in her eyes had changed. They went from calm, peaceful ocean to horrendous hurricane in a matter of seconds. Wild, dangerous… murderous. This was the monster Sara had been talking about earlier.

"Um, Sara?" Deserey asked, her voice squeaking a bit, as she jumped to her feet. She wanted to die, of course. But she didn't want to be murdered by a friend.

Deserey slipped her hand into her bag, taking a handful, as Sara broke her staff into two batons. "Oh boy…" Deserey's heart sank, as Sara ran forward, swinging her batons like a wild animal.

Deserey did her best to keep away from her, moving as fast as she could, ducking behind the bench press and hiding behind the punching bag. She sent a blast of sand at the hostile assassin, forcing her to drop her batons to shield her eyes. Unfortunately, she recovered even quicker than she had when she had been coherent. Sara ripped one of the knives from the target board, holding it by the blade as she prepared to throw it at Deserey's head.

She groaned. "Seriously?" Grabbing another handful of sand, Deserey wondered if she would be able to use her powers to put the assassin to sleep before she impaled her like Olaf from Frozen.

But before she could even try, Sara had tossed the knife. (The assassin had much better reflexes than Dez did. So, she moved much quicker.) Dez yelped, dropping the sand and holding up her hands by some sort of instinct.

She expected to feel something piercing her hand, jamming straight through her palm. Instead, her hand felt perfectly normal. When she opened her eyes, she couldn't help the gasp that left her lips. Her hand had come into contact with the knife, but just like back in the seventies something unexpected happened.

Starting from the point of contact with her hand, the knife was deteriorating, transforming into sand and dropping to the floor. She yelped again, pulling her hand back as the last grain of sand hit the floor of the training room. For a moment, she forgot all about Sara, staring at the sand beneath her feet, absolutely stunned. Had she really just turned Sara's knife into a pile of dust? How? Dez couldn't help groaning inwardly. She couldn't master all of her abilities with her powers if she kept gaining a new one every two seconds!

When Sara groaned, Deserey looked back to her hesitantly, but she was glad to see that she was somewhat back to normal. The assassin shook her head, slowly coming to. She glanced at Dez, her eyes beginning to water. "It happened again, didn't it? I went all blood lust on you?"

Dez's eyes widened in shock, as she finally understood what was going on with her. Quickly, awkwardly, she pushed a strand of curls behind her ear. "Oh, is that what that was?" At Sara's expression she quickly added, "Yeah. But on the bright side I did discover a new ability. See? Look, I turned your knife to sand." She pointed at the sand pile at her feet.

Sara nodded meekly, flashing a wry smile that made Deserey really miss the gorgeous, genuine one she wore earlier. "That's neat…" She sighed after a moment, and Deserey thought she might start crying. "I am so sorry, Dez…I knew this would happen. I shouldn't have suggested that we…I'm so sorry…"

She turned, ready to run out the door, but Deserey crossed the room, for once moving faster than the assassin, grabbing her arm. "Hey, wait. Don't go…"

Sara looked back at her, and Deserey felt her mother instinct taking over, outweighing the initial irritation she'd felt that morning, over taking all of her self loathing for a moment. She just looked so utterly broken, Deserey couldn't take it. She had to fix it. Somehow. Even if there was nothing she could do. "C'mere. Sit down, hon…" She lead Sara over to one of the chairs lined up against the wall for resting.

Together, Sara and Deserey sat in the chairs, Deserey wrapping an arm around the heart broken assassin. For several minutes it was just like that. Neither of them said anything. They just sat, silently. Sara only started speaking again, when she heard some of the others getting up for the day. She laughed bitterly.

"Why is it every time we try to do this one of us ends up sobbing like a baby?" she joked.

Dez snorted. "Let's not make it a habit."

"Agreed," Sara nodded. She sighed before apologizing again. "I'm sorry, Dez. I don't know what happened. Sometimes, it just happens. I just…I can't control it…"

Deserey held up her hand, waving the thought away. "Don't beat yourself up about it. I get it…Well, not really. But you know…"

Sara shrugged helplessly. "It's just…my sister brought me back from the dead, and I'm grateful for that. I mean, how many people do you know who would do something like that for someone?"

Dez gave her own shrug in return. "Personally, if someone brought me back from the dead I'd be extremely pissed at them."

"Yeah," Sara said. "But she risked everything for me. How can I not appreciate that?"

"I guess…" Dez couldn't really picture it, despite Sara's explanation. Her relationship with her own sister had been extremely rocky since that argument with her parents. They hadn't really spoken since they were teens, since she'd been kicked out…

"I actually lost my soul," Sara went on. "Until she and our friend Oliver called someone to help get it back. I've literally been to hell and back, Dez. My sister risked everything, even her own life, to give me a second chance. And I don't want to waste it…" She paused for a moment, blinking rapidly. "But this thing…this monster that I keep turning into… it makes it really hard…"

Deserey nodded, as she listened. She didn't say anything. (What was she supposed to say? "There, there"? "Everything will be okay"? Bullshit.)

"My friend Thea went through something similar," Sara continued. "But she had it a little easier. Because the only way to get rid of it is to kill the person who killed you or to keep killing person after person. The person who hurt her was already dead, but with me it was a bit more complicated…because Thea was the one who killed me. And I can't kill one of my friends. I just can't…"

Deserey felt her heart sinking at the news. It sounded like something straight out of a comic book, some made up story people used to entertain themselves for a few hours and to forget about their own issues. But Sara's story wasn't very entertaining. And it didn't make Dez forget about her own troubled past.

"My sister, Laurel, she's made it a little easier. But I still…" Sara shrugged helplessly. "I don't think I could do this without her. I'm not sure what would happen if I ever lost her…"

Deserey felt a lump form in her throat, and for the first time in a long while she found herself missing her sister, Jess. "She's the one who convinced you to come here?"

Sara nodded, smiling another one of those little genuine smiles. "Yeah, she is."

"You two are close?" Dez couldn't help feeling a bit jealous about it.

"We weren't at first, actually. She hated me for sleeping with Oliver. For dying. For being the bad girl of the family. Usual sibling rivalry stuff. But recently we've gotten a lot closer."

"Ah."

Sara shifted uncomfortably after another moment or two. "Yeah…um. On an unrelated note…I have to tell you something."

Dez raised an eyebrow at her, and the assassin let out a heavy breath of air. "Back in the fifties, I kissed a nurse. Lindsey."

"Um…okay?" Deserey made a face at her, not really sure why this information was relevant to her life.

"It's just," Sara rambled, sensing she needed to explain, "before you kissed me. And I shut you down. I didn't want you to somehow find out later and think that I was just…you know?" She groaned, leaning forward and putting her head in her hands. "Why are actual feelings so hard?"

Deserey couldn't help the chuckle that escaped. "Sara, it's fine. Sleep with whoever you want. It won't make things awkward between us. I promise."

Sara sat up, looking relieved. "Okay," she said. "Good." She grinned goofily after a second, and Dez grinned back, glad that she was feeling better. It was enough to fix her own mood. (At least for a little while.) "You have to admit though. We would make a pretty hot power couple."

"You know it," Dez laughed, winking. She felt a little awkward, since she had always been a terrible flirt, but Sara didn't seem to mind much.

"Oh! You know it would be even hotter if we got Kendra in on it," Sara insisted. "What do you say? Polygamous relationship?"

"Definitely," Dez grinned. Sara laughed, grabbing her hand and tugging her out of the room.

"Yo, Carter!" she shouted down the hall, as they spotted the hawks. "We're stealing your girl!"

Carter turned, looking genuinely concerned about those words. "Uh, what?"

"You heard me," Sara chuckled mischievously. She turned to Kendra, snaking her arm through hers. "Come on, gorgeous!"

Kendra rolled her eyes, as Sara drug Dez and her away from Carter, but she was laughing and smiling so Dez didn't think she minded all that much.

As they reached the galley, they spotted Stein, Jax, Ray, and the two crooks. Deserey couldn't help noticing that Rip wasn't present, and she knew that must have meant he was skipping the most important meal of the day. (She'd have to yell at him for that later, even if she had been planning on skipping it herself earlier.)

"Excuse us! Power couple coming through!" Sara shouted, as she, hands still linked with Kendra and Dez, made her way to the table. Jax laughed, as the three women took a seat near him and the professor.

"Isn't a couple just two people?" asked the youngster.

Sara shrugged uncaringly. "Trio. Couple. Whatever."

Ray tilted his head, as he made breakfast for everyone. "Wait, you guys are a thing now?" He clearly didn't realize this was all just for kicks and giggles.

"Of course," Sara nodded. "We're getting married as soon as Kendra breaks it off with Carter. It's been a long time coming and we all know it. It only took four thousand years, but she finally realized she's just as gay as we are. And we just couldn't help falling madly in love. I mean, look at us! We're like a League of Hotties."

The men (with the exception of Mick) shuffled awkwardly, not sure if they were supposed to agree or not. Women were hard to read, and Deserey had to sympathize with them on that. If you responded with an a agreement they may slap you. Or they may take it as a compliment. If you didn't respond at all, she may get offended, thinking the men didn't like her body at all. It was all just a game of chance really.

Mick was the only one who didn't look uncomfortable. But he was never one to hide what he thought of someone's body, was he? So, he raised his bottle of beer to Sara's statement, agreeing full heartedly. "I'll drink to that," he said, taking a sip.

"…It's like 8AM," Carter said, as he came into the room. "How are you already drinking?"

Mick shrugged. "I have a very serious medical condition," he said and from the tone in his voice you would never be able to tell he was joking. "I need at least ten beers a day to deal with a team full of idiots."

Carter rolled his eyes at the arsonist, but Dez and Jax laughed. "Uh, dude, you're on that team full of idiots," Jax reminded Mick.

Before Mick could respond, though, the conversation was redirected elsewhere, when Stein spoke up to stop Ray from putting jelly on his biscuit. "Oh, none for me, Raymond. I only like Crofters jelly."

Dez nearly fell from her chair, and Ray dropped the spoon he'd been dishing the jelly out with on the floor. Both broke out into a fit of uncontrollable giggles, as the rest of the team stared at them like they'd lost their marbles.

"Ray, Ray!" Dez called, banging her hand on the table.

"I know I heard!" Ray laughed, practically falling all over himself.

"I called it! I freaking called it!" Dez laughed. "He is Logan! I called it!"

Leonard made a face and leaned over to Mick. "They're doing it again…"

"They're clearly insane. Let's put em in a mental institution," the arsonist suggested.

Deserey ignored them, wiping fake tears from her eyes as her laughter died down. "Oh, man. I was having a crap day, but that made it a little better. Thanks for that, Doc."

Stein frowned, confused. "Uh, well, I'm not entirely sure what I did…but you're welcome, dear."

The jaunty feeling of the moment was soon interrupted, when Gideon piped up. She sounded confused, maybe a little disorientated. "Doc?" she repeated the last word Dez had said.

"Yeah," Deserey said, frowning at the AI's tone. "Because he's a doctor of nuclear physics?"

"Oh," Gideon said quietly. "Yes. Of course…" Deserey got the feeling that if she had physical body she'd be shaking her head, trying to clear her mind. She looked around the others, and from their facial expressions she could tell she wasn't the only one noticing the AI's off behavior.

"You okay, Gideon?" Sara asked.

"…Yes. Just fine," Gideon said, but Deserey got the feeling she was lying. Before anyone could interrogate the AI further, Rip walked into the room, frowning at everyone. "You lot better not be breaking my AI," he scolded them.

"Bold of you to just assume she's not in the League of Hotties," Sara said. Judging from her casual attitude, Deserey figured she must have let their earlier argument go. Either that or she didn't want anyone else to know about it. (Though, Dez wasn't sure how no one else had over heard.)

"What?" Rip asked.

"You missed it. Dez, Sara, and Kendra are getting hitched," Jax told him. Out of context it sounded hilarious, especially when Rip shot him a confused look.

"…Right well. Hurry up with that, then. We've got things to do." Dez found it uncanny how much of a dad he sounded like with that sentence.

"Aye, aye Cap'n!" Sara saluted.

After breakfast, the team met back on the Bridge, just in time to see the ship coming out of the temporal zone. "Where are we now?" Leonard asked.

"Washington DC," Rip said. "The year is 19 –"

"Debby just hit the wall," Dez interrupted, breaking out into song. "She never had it all."

"Who is Debby?" Jax asked, frowning.

"One Prozac a day! Her husband's a CPA," Dez went on. "Her dreams went out the door, when she turned twenty-four. Only been with one man. What happened to her plans?"

Sara joined in, now. "She was gonna be an actress. She was gonna be a star."

"She was gonna shake her ass, on the hood of White Snake's car!" Dez sang. "He yellow SUV is now the enemy."

"Looks at her average life," Sara continued. "And nothing has been alright since –"

Together the two women sang in harmony. "Bruce Springsteen, Modanna, way before Nirvana. There was U2 and Blondie and music still on MTV. Her two kids in high school, they tell her that she's uncool. 'Cause she's still preoccupied. With 19 – 19 1985!"

Jax and Rip stared at the two, completely baffled while everyone else pretty much got the reference.

"Bowling for Soup," Dez told Jax and Rip.

When neither looked as though that cleared anything up, Sara shrugged. "Eh, before their time."

"No, I know the song," Rip insisted. "I'm just not sure why you're singing it. The year is 1986. Not 1985." The two women shrugged, not really caring. They had had a bad morning, and they needed some cheering up.

"…We've landed at the height of the Cold War in a world poised for Nuclear annulation," Professor Stein said, getting them back on track.

"We've traveled here because I have a new lead on Vandal Savage's location," Gideon reminded them, her blue head appearing at the center console. She seemed much better now that she had had a few minutes to collect herself.

"Yes," Rip nodded, "Gideon managed to intercept this telefax containing Savage's last known whereabouts." Gideon's head disappeared, as she displayed the said telefax on all the screens in the room.

"Tele-wha?" Jax frowned, and Dez couldn't help chuckling at how young he sounded.

"It's like an email," Ray explained. "…On paper."

"Wow," Mick gaped at the paper on the screens with fake amusement. "That's totally useless."

And indeed it was 'totally useless.' All the words on the paper were completely crossed out with thick black ink, only leaving a thick, red 'Classified' at the top of the page and a 'Top Secret' down at the bottom.

"Dude, the whole things crossed out," Jax muttered.

"Redacted by the US Government," Rip said, and Dez wondered if he had a word a day calendar. His vocabulary was huge. "Which is why we are here. To steal back the original file on Savage back from those who are tracking him."

Rip walked to the front of the Bridge, bringing everyone's attention to the big window in front of them. The team stared, shocked. Deserey started choking on air when she spotted the pentagon shaped building outside, and Ray had to pat her back before she could stop. "Uh..that's the…" Ray said, when Dez's coughing died down.

"Don't worry," Rip said, like that ever made anyone stop worrying. "We're cloaked."

"You want us to break into the Pentagon?" Mick said. "Sounds awesome."

"Sounds crazy," Kendra mumbled.

"What's the plan?" Sara asked.

"The fabrication room will fashion you the necessary credentials," the captain said.

"Ooh!" Ray giggled. "Don't forget our G-Man disguises!" When everyone gave him a weird look he said, "I always wanted to be a spy."

"I always wanted to be a reformed evil scientist working for the Organization Without a Cool Acronym, but I'm no good at science; and when my parents abandoned me, I wasn't adopted by ocelots," Deserey shrugged.

"Oh," Ray said. "Wait. What?"

"Phineas and Ferb," she told him.

"Yeah," he said. "But…what?"

"I preferred Nickelodeon as a kid," Sara commented.

"Alright. Off you pop!" Rip ushered them, sounding fatherly once again.

Sara lead them all out, shouting, "Are ya ready, kids?"

Only Ray and Dez responded, shouting, "Aye, aye, Captain!" The three of them sang the rest of the Spongebob theme song as the team got ready to invade a US Government building.

* * *

There's like…at least three references in here. I'm sorry. I got reference heavy. Haha. In fact there's so many references throughout this whole thing already…I'm gonna have a list at the end telling y'all what they are. See if ya can find em all!

And if you think that Dez is having another good day just because she was joking and singing…well you'd be wrong. Her days will generally end up being whatever mood she wakes up in. So, spoiler alert…she's probably gonna get pissy again later. Just a heads up, there will most likely be a lot of cursing because of that. I curse a lot when I'm mad. So do my characters. If that bothers you now's the time to yeet. Otherwise you'll be stuck with it for the next few chapters. Don't say I didn't warn ya!

Well I don't have much to say about this chapter, but I have a question. If I did a watching fic for this (where some characters sit down and watch the events of the book like it's a movie) would you read it? Who would you want to watch it? Let me know in the comments!


	24. The Pentagon

Ray and Leonard were disguised as janitors, wearing matching blue jump suits and carrying a pair of twin mops. Meanwhile, the League of Hotties were each wearing the clothing of agents, matching ties around their necks and twin hats on their heads. The only difference in the costumes were their shirts – Sara's dark blue, while Kendra's was white and Deserey's was a tan sandy color. (She found it a little ironic and couldn't resist.) Firestorm was flying around back, waiting to cut the power; Carter and Mick were waiting to cause a diversion. Rip was back on the Waverider, handing out directions like it was Halloween candy.

" _Now_ ," Rip was saying through the comms. " _The file we're after is in a secure and locked room. In order to gain access we're going to have to_ –"

"Knock and ask them politely to let us in?" Dez said, sarcasm evident in her voice.

"… _Borrow a magnetic keycard…"_ Rip finished, sounding a tad annoyed at having been interrupted with another stupid comment. Deserey didn't really care though. She considered it pay back for waking her up that morning. (Petty? Yes. Fun? Absolutely!)

" _Because that's so much easier than just shrinking down and stealing it,"_ Ray complained.

" _Let me show you how it's done_ ," Leonard said, sounding completely and utterly exasperated. " _Old school_." There was a soft clanging noise, as he dropped his mop carelessly onto the floor. Deserey couldn't see from where she stood, but she heard a woman gasp a moment later. Her heart began pounding in her chest at the sound, and her palms grew sweaty, her mouth becoming as dry as a desert.

" _Are you okay, ma'am?"_ Leonard asked. Deserey heard the woman's stammering response a moment later.

" _I – I wasn't watching where I was going."_ It should have been impossible to hear the woman, considering she wouldn't be wearing one of their comms. She would have had to been standing extremely close to Leonard. Close enough that their bodies would be inches from touching. Close enough that they might even feel each other's breath on their skin…

Deserey gritted her teeth. She wasn't sure why the thought bothered her so much, but the more she thought about it the quicker her initial anger from that morning returned, along with that insufferable headache.

"… _thank you."_

" _Just doing my job."_ Deserey peaked around the corner as she and the other lady Legends started towards Ray and Leonard. She spotted Leonard holding the broad's hand, as she batted her eyes and smiled like the ditzy blonde she probably was. The woman let out a gross giggle, walking away, like she thought she even had a chance at getting laid. (Bitch.) But she didn't see the way Leonard smoothly stuck his hand into her pockets, swiping both her card and her wallet.

"That's a nifty little trick," Ray admitted, as Len held up the card. And when he held up the wallet, the scientist sighed deeply. "Really? We're trying to save the world, and you're lifting wallets?"

"It's called multi tasking," Leonard shrugged. He turned carelessly to where the three ladies approached. "You're up, power couple."

As they walked by, Leonard discretely passed the card to Sara. She took it, hiding it in her sleeve, until they reached the door to the room with the file.

" _The records room has closed circuit cameras. We need a diversion_ ," Rip announced.

Not even a millisecond later, shouting could be heard from down the hall. Over the comms Deserey heard Mick challenging some other guy to an arm wrestle and Carter taking bets from anyone who had decided to watch. (From the sounds of it there was quite the crowd.) "Yup," Deserey muttered. "Sounds like the US government to me."

" _You do realize that you're trash talking your own government don't you?"_ Rip asked.

Dez shrugged, as she followed Kendra and Sara through the halls, Sara swiping the card to gain access to the room they needed. "As an American citizen I reserve the right to criticize my own government."

" _I thought you lot were supposed to have an overwhelming amount of national pride,"_ Rip said.

"Common misconception. Americans are stupid, greedy bastards," Deserey told him, gaining some rather concerned looks from Kendra and Sara, as they entered the files room and started looking for the file on Savage. "Our government has enough funding and resources to clean up the schools and decrease poverty, but instead they sit high and mighty, wasting space by building five mansion they'll never actually use. Just empty pieces of garbage, while kids are starving on the streets and minimum wage workers barely get by. No wonder we have so many worthless crooks running around robbing people blind."

Kendra and Sara simultaneously gave her wide eyed looks and shouted, "Whoa!"

"… _I'm going to try and not feel personally attacked_ ," Leonard said.

"You shouldn't," Dez told him grumpily. "Because I'm personally attacking you…Not Mick though. Just you."

" _Uh, okay_?" Leonard sounded confused. And honestly Deserey wasn't sure she fully understood where her irritation was coming from either, but in the moment she didn't care enough to apologize for what she'd said.

"… _Wow_ ," Ray muttered.

Sara pulled the file from one of the cabinets near by. She looked at Deserey apprehensively before speaking. "We've got the file."

" _Uh, good_ ," Rip said, sounding relieved for an excuse to change the subject. " _Now for the tricky part. All personal are subject to search upon exiting the building. Firestorm will divert the power long enough for you to exit_."

The three women waited a moment, listening for Jax (since he was the one behind the wheel of the Firestorm duo) to give them a green light. After a moment they heard him over the comms. " _All clear_."

Dez, Kendra, and Sara slipped through one of the back doors marked Restricted Exit. They walked through the halls. For a moment all was fine and dandy, as the three women headed down a long, narrow hall. Then, out of the blue, Deserey heard Jax's annoyed voice through her ear piece. " _Grey_ ," he hissed. " _Shut up!"_ Deserey wasn't sure what they were arguing about, (because they must have been arguing for the young man to say such a thing) but she figured it was nothing good. A second later an explosion could be heard from the other side of the comms, and Jax grunted. Alarms started blaring throughout the building.

" _Tell me that's not what I think it is?"_ Leonard sighed.

"… _We hit the alarm,"_ Jax admitted.

" _Guess that's our cue to leave_." Ray sounded much too chipper considering their plan had just gone south.

" _Been fun, fellas,"_ Mick said. (Deserey guessed he must have been talking to the guys who he'd been arm wrestling with.) Dez sniffed the air, as she and the other two ladies stepped through a metal door. Was something burning?

" _Where is that smoke coming from_?" Rip asked apprehensively.

" _Rory set the room on fire with his gun,_ " Carter answered. He seemed mildly annoyed by it but not at all surprised.

" _We're in the Jump ship. Hurry up and get here or we'll leave all of you,"_ Leonard threatened. Deserey wondered if he was on edge because of her comment from earlier.

A security guard spotted the three women, as they were hurrying towards the door for the outside. He stopped them before they could get anywhere near it. "This is a restricted exit."

"Sorry," Kendra said, smiling like 'oops look at us silly girls haha'. "We must have gotten lost." She tried to move past the guard, but he stepped in front of her.

"Ma'am, I need to see your keycard," he said. She glanced at Sara and Deserey behind her, before looking back at the guard. He held his hand out for the guard. "Ma'am."

Deserey took the card Len had stolen for them from Sara, handing it to the guard. She grinned at him, when he looked back at her suspiciously. "This isn't the correct card," the guard said. "You don't have clearance to use this exit. Who are you?"

"We're uh…" Sara hesitated. She looked at Dez and Kendra for help. Kicking butt she could do, but coming up with a clever lie on the spot was another story.

"We're called the Revengers," Deserey said.

"Revengers?" the guard repeated skeptically.

"That's right," Dez nodded curtly. "Sent by Director Nicholas Joseph Fury." When the guard gave her an absolutely befuddled look she went on with her pop culture reference. "But we only call him Fury. Not Nicholas. Not Nick. Not Joe or Joseph. Fury."

The guard raised an eye brow at her, and she was pleased when he unknowingly continued the reference with her. "Then what does his mother call him?"

"Fury."

"What does he call her?"

"Fury."

He stared back at her skeptically, like he just knew she was messing with him. Kendra and Sara shared a look, each clearly thinking Deserey's MCU quotes wouldn't be enough to get them through this one. "…you're coming with me," the guard said after a moment's pause. He reached out, grabbing Kendra's arm, as he spoke into his walkie talkie. "We have a code seven viala – omf!"

That last part was because Kendra had decked him in the face. But unlike when she'd punched Rip back in the seventies, she didn't just look mad. She looked absolutely insane. Her eyes had turned a filthy blood red, her lips curled into a snarl like a rabid animal with rabies. Hawk wings sprouted from her back, violently sending two more guards flying into the wall as they ran to help the first man. When their bodies made contact with the floor again, Deserey heard a sickening snap! and she knew they'd broken at least half a dozen bones. She cringed at the thought. (Dez had always been squeamish when it came to that sort of thing.)

Kendra's finger nails had grown into long, thin talons, edges as sharp as one of Sara's knives. She turned to the first man, scratching his face with her talons. The man screamed in pain, turning his head so that Deserey could see the deep gashes on his cheek. Her stomach churned slightly, her head pounding worse than it had that morning. Hawkgirl flew out the exit and into the parking lot with an alarming speed. Mick and Carter rounded the corner, just as she did so.

" _We've got the file on Savage,_ " Rip said, clearly watching everything from the ship's monitors. He sounded utterly exasperated and tired. " _What the hell does Kendra think she's doing_?"

"Bashing punks faces in," Mick laughed, like this was nothing more than entertainment to him. Carter, Sara, and Deserey simultaneously shot him an annoyed look.

"What?" he asked, like he genuinely didn't know how insensitive his comment was. Dez rolled her eyes at the arsonist, following Kendra outside, Carter and Sara on her heels. Hawkgirl was on top of another guard, clawing his eyes out with her talons.

" _Alright, wonderful!"_ Rip bitched through the ear pieces. " _We've got a demigoddess who's gone completely berserk! Abort! I repeat abort! Get back to the ship right now!"_

" _Roger that,"_ Firestorm said. Deserey's head snapped upwards, as a loud crash sounded from above. She heard Sara groan, as she spotted Firestorm flying through the air towards the jump ship.

" _I meant use the door_ …" Rip sighed. " _But while you're at it, can you help return our winged avenger to her cage?"_

Wordlessly, Firestorm changed direction, swooping down and taking Kendra in his arms before flying off again. Dez glanced at the guard, screaming and writhing in pain on the ground as others swarmed to help him. Sara grabbed her arm, dragging her off to the jump shit where Leonard and Ray were waiting for them. They entered the small ship right after Carter and Mick.

When Firestorm and Kendra were on board, Ray told Gideon to bring them back to the Waverider. No one spoke as they flew back to their main ship. The tension was too high, as Kendra slowly came to, her appearance returning to normal: brown eyes, small nails, normal teeth, and no wings. She seemed a bit foggy, everyone looking at her with disapproval or worry respectively. Except Mick, who seemed more than a little amused. Dez fumed, tapping her arm rest irritably. Rip was definitely going to give them an ear full when they got back…

* * *

Deserey was wrong. Rip didn't lecture the team, because they took care of it themselves with the argument that took place almost immediately once they entered the bridge. (She was mildly ashamed that she took part in it.)

"Instead of focusing on what went wrong," Ray said, trying to keep everyone calm. "Let's focus on the positive!" Leonard rolled his eyes at his optimistic attitude, as he sat down. Dez scoffed, not really in the mood for positivity either.

"What are you talking about?" Mick asked. "That was awesome." Dez wondered if he was being sarcastic or if he just really loved chaos that much.

"In the same way that tsunamis, earthquakes, and other natural disasters are awesome," the professor huffed irritably at the arsonist's comment.

Kendra shrugged, looking a bit annoyed herself. It was a bit uncanny, really. From the way she held herself, the way her eyes rolled every time someone said anything, how her arms were folded over her chest. It reminded her a bit of Anita, when she thought Deserey and Darryl were being unfair. "We got the file on Savage!" Kendra huffed.

"Despite the hiccup with the alarm?" Stein asked. He shot a look at Jax, who immediately jumped into defense mode. And he, again, reminded Deserey of her son, when he got to his feet, shaking his head in disbelief. "Oh, so it's my fault now?" Jax said with a bit of attitude. "You know, maybe if you weren't always yammering away in my head, I could actually focus!"

Ray awkwardly scratched the back of his head, as the arguing grew more and more hostile with every passing moment. Rip sighed, leaning against the console, looking a bit like how Darryl did when Anita and Daren wouldn't stop arguing: completely and utterly warn out.

"You have access to sixty years of knowledge and experience," Stein told Jax, sounding just like a dad trying unsuccessfully to get his uncooperative son to listen. "Why not just take advantage of that?"

"Because it's my body on the line out there!" Jax yelled. "Not yours!"

"Hey!" Sara shouted from where she was perched in one of the chairs. She just barely leaned up to lazily look at Jax. "It's not your fault. Everything would have been fine if Big Bird here hadn't freaked out." She nodded her head at Kendra.

Kendra started forward, glaring at the assassin. "Excuse me?" she hissed.

Deserey shrugged moodily. "You're not the only one," she told the demigoddess. "Leonard just tried to get laid the whole time."

Leonard shot her a dangerously icy look, but at the moment she didn't really care if she was pissing him off or not. "What are you talking about?" he asked, sounding utterly offended by the idea.

"That dumb broad," Dez told him, rolling her eyes. Like he didn't know who she'd meant. She batted her eyes fakely, imitating the ditzy lady from earlier. "Uh, uh, I must have fell. Oops!" she mocked in the fakest voice she could manage.

"…I was robbing her?" Leonard said, still sounding confused and offended.

Dez snorted, rolling her eyes. "Of what?" she muttered. "Her virginity?"

"Enough!" Rip yelled finally. Everyone turned their heads to him, either exhausted or moody. "There's plenty of blame to go around." Dez couldn't help comparing him to Darryl again. Both men had similar tones when speaking, stern and strict, yet somehow still soft and caring. Perhaps it was a dad thing.

"Fortunately, Gideon was able to generate a low-end EMP, which erased all the Pentagon's magnetic media," Rip went on, standing a bit more upright.

"Like security footage?" Ray asked.

Rip nodded, taking a deep breath before giving a small lecture of his own. "Look, you're just lucky that the Department of Defense likes to keep incidents like this under wraps."

Deserey raised an eyebrow at him. "Incidents like this? What do you mean by that, exactly? Have you tried robbing the Pentagon before?"

Rip ignored her, turning his head upwards towards the ceiling. He addressed the AI instead. "Gideon, any luck with our purloined secret file?" And from under his breath he muttered, "Please say yes…"

"Oh my god. You have, haven't you?" Deserey gaped at the captain.

He continued to ignore her, as Gideon responded to him. "Yes, Captain. According to the Pentagon, Savage has defected to the Soviet Union."

"So, the most powerful evil the world has ever known has just gone red at the height of the Cold War," Stein nodded slowly, still looking a bit miffed from his argument with Jax.

"Now he's going to help them cook something up that kills the future," Ray put in. He was a lot more chatty now that the arguing had died down, and Deserey began to realize that perhaps arguments just made him uncomfortable.

"Gideon," Rip said tiredly, "set a course. And you lot." He turned back to the team. "Stop arguing like bloody five year olds. You're grown men and women."

"Yeah, but –" Sara started, only to be cut off by the brit again, when he held up his hand.

"No buts!" he told her. "Now, go. All of you. Go do whatever it is you do to calm down and make nice. I'll call you when we've reached Russia."

"You are such a dad…" Deserey complained, as she and the others stalked out of the room.

* * *

I had fun with this bit, haha. It's great amusement, writing chaos. Do you like Dez's addition to the Pentagon robbing? How do you think Russia will go?

I'm really lazy so I don't have much to say this time around. So…hope ya liked it!

that's all for now, toodles!

~Elsie


	25. Interlude 3

**Note: The first part of this chapter is written by my best friend radpineapple and takes place before the first chapter of this book**

 **Tidbit: This chapter is about 7,000 words all together and is the longest chapter I've written in fanfic ever.**

* * *

The day had a been a blur of sadness, anger, and desperation.

She was divorced.

She still loved Darryl. But he didn't love her. Clearly. She had let him down. Typical. She couldn't do a single fucking thing right. She found the perfect man and managed to ruin that. Of course she did. Why had she even tried? She should've ended it on their first date. He was too good for her. He deserved someone better. Someone who would actually make him happy. Someone who would be a competent wife. A competent mother.

Another nauseating pang of guilt. Her children. Grief hit her so hard she stopped walking. She leaned onto the wall and heavily panted. She couldn't think about them right now. She knew what she had done. She'd screwed them over. Her children. Her innocent pure children. The lights of her life. Now they were gone.

She had to leave.

The urge to kill herself was stronger than it had ever been before. It was like a hunger, and the desperation to escape the hell she had caused clawed from deep within her chest and up her throat. She raced towards the nearest subway. She had to get home. She had to end this.

Dez made her way down the steps and into the musty air of the subway. Her body led her to the correct stop, she was completely on autopilot. Emotions swirled within her like a sandstorm. The subway arrived, and Dez stepped inside and quickly found a seat.

It was a little crowded, so Dez took no notice when she felt someone sit next to her. She heard a noise beside her and turned to see a man sitting next to her, uncapping a flask. He looked nearly as worn as she was.

His blond hair jutted out in every direction, his red tie was loosely hanging around his neck, and his trench coat was torn on one of the sleeves. He must've felt her eyes on him because he looked to her. Staring into his eyes was like looking into a mirror. The same pain and desperation she was feeling was reflected in this man's eyes. The instant connection they made was indescribable.

"You look like you need a drink," he commented. He had a rough, British accent that threw Dez off for a moment before she realized he was holding out his flask for her to take. She took it from him and drank.

It was a strong whiskey, and the burning she felt draining down her throat was a good relief to the confusion of her emotions. She handed it back to him.

"I'm John," he stated.

"Deserey," she replied. Neither of them said anything else, but it was a comfortable silence. Dez had only felt it a few times with Darryl. Most of the time silence annoyed her. It screamed at her, telling she had to fill the awkward silence she had created. But not this time.

Eventually, more and more people began to leave, and Dez and John were the only two left.

"You're getting off at Meadow Lakes?" Dez asked. It was the last stop. It was where she lived.

John blinked as if he had been lost in deep thought. Dez knew the feeling all too well.

"I don't really know where I'm going," he admitted. "I was…" His voice trailed off, and Dez noticed he was angrily fighting back tears. He uncapped the flask and downed the rest of it.

"You can stay with me."

What the hell?

Dez had no idea where that came from. She hated having people over. It was always messy because she was always too tired to clean. Her house was a mess, and she wasn't even sure if she had food.

John looked at her with the same surprise she felt. "Are you sure?"

The subway stopped and Dez stood. John stood next to her. "I'm sure," Dez finally answered. The doors slid opened, and they walked out.

"So, what's got you down?" John asked.

Dez involuntarily tensed. She had just begun to forget about it.

John noticed. "I don't mean to pry. I just…sometimes it's easier to spill your problems with a stranger."

"Then why don't you go first?" Dez asked with more harshness than she intended. Why was she like this? Why was she so mean? This man had been nothing but kind to her.

John shrugged. "I just caused my best friend to lose everything. His wife divorced him, and now he can't even see his daughter. He had a good life. He was the best friend I ever had, and I had to fuck it up just like I do with everyone I meet." He was emotional now. Tears glittered in his eyes and he wouldn't look at Dez.

He was ashamed.

"My husband just divorced me," Dez blurted. "I managed to fuck that up, too. He was perfect. He was literally everything I could've asked for in a person, and I had to ruin it with my goddamn depression because I'm a selfish bitch." She hadn't meant to say all that. She hadn't mean to get that emotional. All she knew was that a tightness in her chest had left her, and tears were streaming down her face. John was right. That had helped, even if it was just a little relief.

"Well, Dezzy," he said. "Looks like we're both royal fuck-ups with no hope of a better future."

"Wow, that really helped."

He chuckled, and that made Dez smile. She hadn't smiled in weeks. She shouldn't be smiling now. Guilt began to creep in, and she looked away.

"We're almost there," she said, changing the topic. She led them up a driveway, pulled out her keys, and unlocked the door. She stepped inside but was too afraid to turn on the light. She was ashamed of the mess she called a home.

John walked in right after her and immediately felt for a light switch. He searched for it with almost a desperate edge. Was he afraid of the dark?

The lights came on. Dez brushed past the messiness of the entranceway and heard John following her. She led him to the kitchen and turned on the lights. She stopped so suddenly that John ran into her. He mumbled an apology while looking around. Dez winced. Pots, pans, half-opened Ramen packets, utensils, and empty cereal bowls lay atop every clean surface of her kitchen.

"You're almost as messy as me," John said. Dez nearly jumped. He was closer than she realized.

She blushed at how close they were and the mess that was her kitchen. "I can't imagine anything worse than this, so I find that hard to believe."

He looked down at her. "Don't even try to outdo me on self-pity, I'd win," he said with a slight competitive edge.

"Oh, yeah?" Dez countered, not really sure where this courage was coming from. Maybe it was a result of the day she had or the fact that she hadn't been this close to another man since Darryl. "Because my life is pretty fucked up."

John raised an eyebrow and took a step even closer. "You have no idea what you're getting yourself into."

"Neither do you."

And suddenly they were kissing. It was wild and full of lust and need. It didn't take them long to get to the bedroom. Dez's thoughts were a whirl of emotion and she wasn't exactly sure how she had gotten to this point, but doing this with John – with someone who knew true sorrow – was something she'd never experienced. It was harsh but passionate. There was desperation like she'd never known, but she found comfort in someone seeking the same answers, someone feeling the same pain. She'd never fucked someone like that, and she knew it would probably never happen again.

He was gone when she woke up the next day, but she didn't care. She was torn between extreme guilt and satisfaction. Being with John had saved her life and had given her some sort of solace that there was at least one other person out there who knew what utter despair and helplessness felt like.

But the guilt…

She had sex with someone the same day she divorced her husband. How weak was she? She couldn't even wait one fucking day? She really was the worst.

Dez pushed that memory out of her mind, but it came back to her in her low moments. Those deep moments of sorrow. She'd wonder if John was still alive, or if he'd escaped this wretched world. But something in his eyes had told her he had seen worse. The way he had basically clawed for the light-switch when he first got inside. The haunted look in his eyes as if he was seeing something else.

She'd never thought she'd see the day, years after their one night stand, when John walked into the Waverider.

* * *

The museum was a lot larger than Anita had been expecting. It was crowded wall to wall, people rushing around to get to the exhibits with ecstatic grins on their faces. Children screeched loudly, carrying balloons and Flash dolls around with them, as their parents attempted to keep up with them. (According to the sign on the front of the building it was family night, so unfortunately there was most likely going to be an overwhelming amount of children. Ugh.)

On the floor, round platforms sat, a holographic image appearing whenever people pressed the button on the wall behind the platforms. Presently, two families of four were watching the hologram intently.

It was a man, no older than thirty, with long dark hair and a goofy grin. In fact his whole persona (a Star Wars shirt, [Anita was pretty sure her brother had the same one back in 2016] a pair of jeans, and sneakers. The guy's hair was barely combed either) gave him the appearance of a large man child, not a professional scientist. But according the thing's ramblings that's exactly what he was. A scientist. Not just any scientist, though. According to the hologram he was non other than Cisco Ramon.

As they maneuvered through the swamp of humans, making their way into a large room displaying replicas of varies weapons, Anita turned to Oculus. "Mr. Ramon is a hologram?" she asked, raising her voice a little to be heard over the crowd around them.

Oculus shrugged, adjusting his glasses on his nose, even though they'd been perfectly fine before. Absently, he scanned over a few pictures that hung on the wall, as a mother and her daughter squeezed passed them to get to the display box presenting Weather Wizard's wand. "He's a human, I think. I'm not sure what the hologram's for. Just to look cool, I think. He'd be older now, though."

Anita nodded slowly, her eyes lingering on the mother and daughter. The girl was a little over three years older than Anita, her hair pinned back in pretty braids. She was smiling at the Weather Wizard's wand with amusement in her eyes, ecstatic, no doubt, to learn about the foes of everyone's favorite scarlet speedster. (Vaguely, Anita remembered that Oculus had said he'd been here before. So, she wondered how he didn't know who the Flash was when he'd come to 2016. This museum was dedicated to him by the looks of it.) The girl's mom stood near by, grinning at her daughter's happiness, as she wrapped her arm around her lovingly.

The scene sparked something inside Anita that she wasn't quite ready to feel. She couldn't really identify what it was. The closest she could get was the same sensation one got when they'd been smacked with a million baseballs. Everything stung. Her chest, her stomach, her eyes…Something about seeing that mother with her daughter, laughing and smiling as if all was right with the world... It just reminded her that her own mother wasn't around anymore. (Sure, she visited her sometimes, but it wasn't really the same. And with her mother running off on that escapade of hers she might as well have been lost forever.)

For a moment all Anita could feel was that stinging sensation. How could that mother and daughter be so close? How could they just be laughing and joking around, like nothing bothered them? It wasn't right. It wasn't…fair. Anita couldn't say she had never been close to her mom before, because she had. A long time ago. They use to do everything together. Movies, books, board games even. But then everything changed. She changed. They didn't talk like they use to. They didn't laugh or hang out. They just sat in an uncomfortable silence until Anita went home to her father. And it was like Anita wasn't good enough for her anymore, like she was upset with her for growing up…

She shook her head, forcing the thoughts out of her head, as she turned to see Oculus staring at one of the pictures on the wall like he was lost in his thoughts too. Anita glanced at the picture, vaguely taking note that it was a portrait of a team of crooks known in her time as the Rogues. Oculus seemed particularly interested in the man they called Heat Wave and the woman called Golden Glider, as his eyes kept flickering over their painted forms.

"Did you know them, you think?" Anita asked. She knew it was a bit of a stretch, ( a guy like Oculus would surely be eaten alive in a group like that) but she figured it wouldn't hurt to ask anyway. What was the harm in ruling things out?

Oculus shook his head, as he turned to face Anita, that big grin of his returning once again. "Nah, I thought something might have been there…But it's gone now," he said. He scrunched his face up complexly, and at first Anita worried he was in pain. "I think it's just…" Oculus hesitated, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "I wonder what exactly they were all going rogue from."

Anita shrugged. She didn't really understand why it mattered. They were here for Mr. Ramon not to see the Flash Museum. (Though she had to admit the museum was kind of cool.) "I don't know. Society I guess? Why do you care?"

Oculus ignored her question. Instead, he went back to staring at the Rogue painting intently. Anita tried not too be too annoyed at him for it, since he was trying to figure himself out, but it was extremely hard considering she had gotten bumped into several times by a kid with a giant stuffed Flash doll and a man with several figurines. (Somehow, though, Oculus managed to avoid getting rammed into by any of the other museum goers, and that kind of annoyed Anita even more.)

"Why would they want to rebel against society?" Oculus wondered. "Was it hard?"

Anita stared at him, narrowly avoiding another collision with a frantic father chasing his toddler son across the room. She scowled, as the child let out a horrendous screech. "Was what hard?" she asked, growing more and more irritated the longer they stayed in this stupid crowd.

"Their lives," Oculus said. He lent closer to the picture, just in time to avoid getting whacked in the face with a child's stuffed animal, as they tossed it across the room.

Anita rolled her eyes. "Everyone's life is hard. Who cares. Can we get out of here? I'm getting a headache."

Oculus flashed her an amused smile. "What, you don't like children?" Anita could tell he was just teasing, but she was in no mood.

"No, I don't," she said. "For the same reason I don't like old people. They're loud, they stink, they're gross, and they're whiny." She folded her arms over her chest. "So can we please just look for this Ramon guy already?"

"Yeah, come on," Oculus said. He turned to move into the next hall, but he stopped much to Anita's dismay. "Wait. You don't like old people?"

"Let's go!" Anita grabbed his arm, tugging him into the next hall, as he muttered, "Who doesn't like old people?" to himself. She let out a sigh of relief as they walked through the next door way. This hall was blissfully quiet compared to the one they had just left, and it was significantly less crowded, too. It mostly consisted of bored teenagers, texting on their phones. At least Anita thought they were phones. (They looked more like watches than anything, but their fingers were tapping away at the screen, like teens' fingers would be on their cell phones back in 2016. So, she figured phones were a pretty good guess.)

Anita was almost willing to bet the teenagers wanted to be anywhere else, but they were dragged her by their parents, because their siblings wanted to come. (Annoying younger siblings? Anita could relate.)

Oculus moved through the room quietly, as though the teenagers put him off somehow. Anita snorted, wondering how small children screaming at the top of their lungs could possibly be more tolerable than apathetic adolescents. That, she supposed, was just one more strange thing about this man…

"May I ask you something?" Oculus said, as they reached the next hall of the museum. Anita shrugged, maneuvering around the glass cases holding the Flash's suits throughout the years.

"Just did," she said, looking around. They were the only people in this section of the museum, she noticed. There was an elevator at the end of the room, ending the exhibits. Not even the guards were in this section, like they were just inviting thieves to steal something from them. "But what?"

"Two halls back you said that everyone's life was hard," he said, suddenly sounding very dead pan. His words took on a long, dramatic drawl, like he was thinking hard about every syllable before he spoke them. Anita frowned, quickly deciding that she preferred his up beat attitude and slightly flighty and unfocused tone to this one. This one was just…rough. Like the edges of a blade. It was rather frightening. "Is yours?"

Anita blinked, spluttering awkwardly, as she struggled to grasp the concept of his question. Her back stung, the sensation of an ice cube running down her spine startling her into attention. She shuddered, shaking her head. "I, uh, what do you mean? Why would you ask me that?" She leaned on the wall, trying her best to relax and act cool, but her palms were growing sweaty. And she worried that her discomfort was too visible, because Oculus actually took several steps away from her in, what she guessed was, an attempt to make her feel at ease.

Oculus shrugged, and she cringed when he spoke. "Everyone is someone." His voice still held that bladed tone, words cutting deep in a way Anita didn't think was possible. Oculus's eyes were off too. They weren't gleaming the way they'd been since they met; his eyes were like walls, put up to hide something, to keep someone out. Belatedly, she wondered, as her knees buckled under her, what could have caused him to build those walls and who he'd been trying to keep out with them. "And you're someone. So, if you're someone, and everyone is someone, then you must be like everyone. And if everyone's life is hard…"

"I –" Anita started, but she felt that invisible baseball from earlier slam right into her gut. "I don't…"

Oculus frowned, suddenly looking normal again. The walls in front of his eyes crumbled to pieces; the edges in his voice slowly dulled until they were no more. He was once again that confusing dork Anita had met at her school a few hours ago, albeit with a concerned frown on his face. "Look, you don't have to answer. I was just wondering…"

Anita nodded slowly, still trying to catch her breath. She was having trouble wrapping her mind around these abrupt changes in attitude. So fast, so sudden. No warning. Perhaps, he was a bit bipolar? But somehow she didn't think that was quite right. There was something else. She just wasn't sure what it was…But what had prompted the changes in the first place?

Anita took a shaky breath, as she stood up right again. "I-it's fine," she said quietly. "It's…not really that hard, actually. There's just…a lot going on…with my mom. So, that kind of sucks."

"Ah," Oculus said. "Sorry."

She nodded, looking at her feet. "Yeah, me too…"

"…Let's see where this elevator goes, shall we?"

Anita thought he was just trying to change the subject to get her mind off her mom, but she decided not to call him out on it, especially since she wasn't really thinking about her mom. Not right then anyway.

Oculus glanced at the panel on the side of the wall, frowning curiously. "This thing only goes down." Anita glanced over his shoulder, and she realized he was right. The thing only had one button: an arrow pointing towards the floor. There was also a keypad next to it.

"Looks, like you need an access code to use it," Anita pointed out.

"Ah, yes," Oculus said. "The lock to keep the average museum goer out." He turned to her, grinning broadly, as he fiddled with his glasses and held up his watch. "Good thing we aren't average." Anita couldn't help grinning back.

* * *

The elevator ride was surprisingly short, Anita thought. They didn't talk much during the ride, and Oculus kept fidgeting like a child with ADHD. But Anita didn't mind much. Her thoughts were plenty loud enough to fill the silence anyway.

The elevator opened up to a long, narrow hall, curving around, reminding Anita a bit of a race track. The walls were bare, painted white, and the lights were rather dim. "Hm…Ominous," Oculus said.

Anita nodded in agreement, feeling a bit uneasy. But still there was a tingle of excitement in her gut that tugged her forward, forcing her to move down the hall alongside Oculus.

They had only walked a few feet before they passed by a wide room with white walls and dirty tile floors. On the far wall computer monitors hung from the ceiling, surrounding a large opening. Inside the nook was a an empty mannequin; in front of the door was a wide desk, taking up most of the floor space. Anita would have thought that no one had entered the room in years, judging from the state it was in… Except that she could see two men standing behind the desk with their backs turned to them. They seemed to be working on something intently, their bodies stiff, as the scrunched together.

The man on the left was built like a tooth pick, thinning blonde hair on top his head. He was wearing a white polo shirt and loose pants to match. Anita could tell he was professional by nature, probably one of those scholarly types. She was almost willing to bet he'd gone to Harvard or Yale.

The man on the right was a polar opposite. His greying hair was clearly falling out, as was made evident by the bald spots on the back of his head. He was skinny as well, though he had far more muscle on his body. The man was dressed in a purple t-shirt and shorts. (Which was rather disturbing to Anita, considering how weathered the man's skin was.) She could tell just from the way he held himself he probably wasn't one to take much of anything seriously.

Anita guessed they must have been in their early to mid seventies at the earliest. (Children and old people? This day just got better and better…) Oculus gestured for her to keep quiet, as the duo ducked behind the wall, watching the two men.

"I don't understand," the man on the left said, sounding quite flustered. Anita detected a thick British accent, as he spoke. "How could they not want to come back? What about the city? What about the Flash?"

The other man shrugged. When he spoke, it quickly became clear that he was, very obviously, American. "To be fair, Julian, this place isn't exactly discrete anymore," he said. "Besides, we're all old. And after what happened with…" He trailed off, his shoulders slumping slightly. "Well, you know…"

Anita frowned, glancing at Oculus. But he seemed just as confused as she was. Did these two know the Flash? It sounded as though they had a falling out though…

The other man, Julian evidently, nodded, sighing heavily as he ran his hand over his face tiredly. "Yes, Dibney. I remember. But now is not the time to wallow in self pity about the past! We have to figure out where he sent himself. Which earth?"

Anita's frown deepened the more the men talked. She only grew more and more confused as the conversation between the two men went on. What did he mean which earth? There was only one of those…wasn't there?

"Yeah," the man on the right, Dibney, said. "I know. But moving on isn't exactly easy! You've been away for a long time, so it's probably easier for you. But for the rest of us? Not so much. We have been a team for years, now. A loss like this really takes a toll."

"Teams show up for each other, Dibney,"Julian snapped. "You said it yourself. You all have been a team for years. And throughout those years, not once have any of you wavered. Not like this. You have rescued each other time and time again. Even when Savitar tried to kill Iris! Why is now any different?"

Anita was having trouble making sense of what they were saying, and she had no idea who Savitar and Iris were. What did they have to do with the Flash or Central City?

"Well, I also said we're old," Dibney told Julian, shifting so that he was standing sideways, showing off the side of his face. It was rather chubby compared to the rest of his body, and his skin was littered in wrinkles.

Oculus pushed Anita back so that they were further behind the wall and a bit more hidden; from the new angle Anita could see the side of Julian's face as well. He had thin scruff and reading glasses perched on his nose. She also spotted the thing they'd been working on: a small, circular machine with buttons covering just about every inch of it.

"And we're tired," Dibney continued. "We can't keep doing this forever you know."

"Of course not, but –" Julian cut himself off with a shake of the head. "Forget it. It doesn't matter. Let's just get this over with, shall we?" He went back to fiddling with the machine. Dibney followed his lead, turning to see whatever Julian was doing.

Julian pressed a few buttons, and Dibney reached behind the machine, fixing a pair of antennas so that they stood upright, pointing at the ceiling. Anita wasn't sure what they were waiting for, but after a moment, Julian spoke, sounding a bit excited. "We've got something!"

Nearly a second after he spoke, the machine sparked, and the two men jumped back.

"Bullocks," Julian cursed.

Dibney chuckled light heartedly. "Welp, spoke too soon…"

Julian sighed. "I suppose this is why Cisco was always the engineer," he said dejectedly, as he folded up the machine.

Anita glanced at Oculus, her eyes going wide with surprise. Cisco? As in Ramon? If she was right, these men were looking for him too. They had said they were a team. Did that mean they could help? Then again, a lot of things didn't add up. What had happened to make their team split? And what exactly had happened to Cisco Ramon? Could these men really be trusted?

Dibney nodded sadly. "Back to the drawing board, I guess," he said.

Julian let out another exasperated sigh, as he began gathering the machine up in his arms. He turned around, stepping into the hallway, Dibney right behind him. Oculus grabbed Anita's arm, as he made to move… But it was too late. Dibney and Julian spotted them immediately upon exciting the room with the computers.

For a moment, there was only a stunned silence, as the four people stared at one another. Anita counted two beats, before Julian spoke with alarm, "Oi, you're not suppose to be down here!"

Dibney placed a hand on the other man's shoulder, squinting at Oculus and Anita. "Wait, is that…"

Anita didn't hear whatever he'd been about to say, because Oculus had started dragging her down the hall at a sprint. She heard the men calling after them, but she didn't stop to see what they wanted. Anita wasn't sure if they could trust them; she wasn't sure what would happen if she turned around to let them talk. They could help them find Cisco or they could be completely insane and kill them. The possibility of the latter was enough to keep her legs moving….That is until she toppled to the floor.

Her knees hit the floor hard, the smacking sound echoing throughout the halls. Oculus skidded to a halt, as Anita's hand slipped away from his; he turned around to see what had happened, letting out a startled yelp. Anita frowned at his reaction, looking down in search of whatever she'd tripped over; and when she spotted it she felt her stomach churn, as she realized why Oculus had the reaction he did.

On the floor was a limp looking arm, stretched out like silly putty across the ground. Anita screamed, jumping up to her feet again, as the arm began retracting down the hallway. She pressed her back against the wall, only to fall over a second later. Anita grunted, sitting up and looking at Oculus, who stared back at her with wide eyes.

The older man held a hand out to her, pulling her to her feet. Anita stood, her legs trembling under her. "T-that…arm…" She pointed down the hall where the arm had gone.

"I know," Oculus breathed out, his voice shaking as badly as her legs. "And this room…"

"Room..?" Anita turned around to see what he was talking about. There was a room that hadn't been there before. It was wide and long, curving around with the wall in the halls; shelves were stacked against the ghost white walls, and round ball like objects were stuck to the ceiling and floor. On the other side of the room, a single, frail looking computer stand stood alone. Slumped against one wall was a small girl, her head tilted at an awkward angle.

"Whoa…" Anita muttered. Momentarily, she had forgotten all about the freaky arm she had tripped over or the men they were running from. She stepped into the room, turning in a circle to take in all the details. "What is this?" she wondered.

"I'm not sure," Oculus said, stepping forward. "I –" He was cut off, when the wall slid closed behind him. It blended together, becoming completely camouflaged. "Think it's a secret room," Oculus muttered, finishing his thought.

Anita and Oculus paused for a moment, waiting until they heard Julian and Dibney's footsteps rush by, before turning to the girl. She was no older than eight years of age, long, bright red hair trailing down her shoulders. (The color sort of reminded Anita of Elmo from Sesame Street.) Her skin was pale, the same shade as a piece of paper.

Anita's stomach began doing flips, and she felt like she was going to be sick. Were those men keeping this child locked in here? Her hands shook, and she lowered herself to the floor, as Oculus slowly approached the girl.

"Who are you?" he wondered out loud. Oculus bent down to his knees, looking the girl over for any signs of life. He reached his hand out to touch her, lifting her head up gently, only to jerk it away and let her head fall back down again.

"What?" Anita asked, her voice smaller than she would have liked. She was starting to fear the worst… "I-is she..?"

"She's cold," Oculus said distastefully, and Anita rolled her eyes as she recalled him saying he hated the cold. She walked over, getting down on her knees as well, examining the girl in front of them. The poor thing… so small … so fragil…

Anita frowned, as she spotted a tag on the girl's maroon shirt. She lifted it up to read, but instead of the shirt size, the tag read: _Digital Overclocking Codec – "Doc_ "

"She's a computer?" Oculus guessed, reading over Anita's shoulder. He made a face. "It says Doc. I wonder if that means she's a doctor."

"Nah," Anita said. "I think someone just really wanted to make a Z Nation reference."

Oculus shrugged. "Fair enough." He glanced over the girl again. "There's a button on the side of her neck." He reached out, pressing his fingers to the side of the girl's neck.

Instantly, the girl snapped to attention, making Anita and Oculus jump back. Slowly, the girl, Doc, opened her eyes, blinking as she took in her surroundings. Anita startled as the girl's eyes landed on her. They were intense, packed with wisdom and experiences beyond her years, the color the most unusual Anita had ever seen: a deep, vibrant purple.

For a moment, the girl just stared at the duo in front of her, taking in their faces, like a computer processing input. When she finally spoke, her voice was a bit rattily, the way people's voices tended to get when they had a sore throat, but other than that it was perfectly smooth. No traces of robotism at all. In fact, if Oculus hadn't just turned her on like a machine, Anita would have mistaken her for a normal girl with an abnormal appearance. Her accent was vaguely British, Anita noted, as Doc abruptly rose to her feet. "Mum!"

She wobbled slightly, as she attempted to move, making Anita wonder just how long she'd been locked away in here. Doc stumbled to the computer stand, banging her fists against it. "Mum!" Anita cringed, as her tiny hands smacked against the stand, her shouts getting louder. "MUM!"

"Hey, hey!" Oculus said, hurrying to his feet. "Take it easy. We'll help you find your mother." It was a bit alarming how calm and gentle he sounded just then, but in retro spec, Anita shouldn't have been surprised. She had only been with him a few hours at best, and she could already tell he was one of the kindest souls on the planet. "Who is she?"

Doc glanced at Oculus, pausing for a moment. She pointed at the computer. "Mum," she said. "Help. Mum."

Anita frowned. "The…computer? That's your mom?" She wasn't sure she was understanding the robot girl correctly, but she nodded, repeating, "Mum."

"Okay…?" Anita said slowly.

Oculus shrugged and started fiddling with the stand. After a second of him playing around with it, a blue holographic head materialized before them. The head was vaguely feminine, but it kept flickering, glitching. "Greetings," the head said, its voice so staticy that Anita almost couldn't make it out. "I am Gideon. How may I be of service?"

"Mum!" Doc yelled.

"Greetings I am Gideon. How may I be of service?" Gideon repeated. She was much more robotic and computer like than Doc seemed, and Anita felt her heart break as she watched the little girl beg for the other computer's attention. But Gideon only seemed capable of introducing herself and asking for instructions. She didn't even seem to register her apparent daughter in front of her.

Meanwhile, Oculus stood off to the side, shaking his head, as though his mind had suddenly gone fuzzy. "Gideon," he repeated slowly. "That sounds…familiar…"

Anita hissed in annoyance at all the sudden noise. "Maybe you knew someone with that name," she told him. "It's pretty common."

Before Oculus could say anything, Gideon turned her head to him. "That would be me," she said. "We once knew each other."

Oculus visibly tensed, and Anita could tell he was getting a bit excited. "We did?" he said, as Doc looked at him, silent now. "I don't…remember. Who…" He trailed off, glancing at Anita before returning his gaze to Gideon. "Who am I?"

Gideon's form flickered. "You are –" That was all she got out before the stand began sparking, and her head disappeared with a wild flash of light. Anita jumped back, yelping. Oculus and Doc screamed simultaneously.

"No!" Oculus groaned.

"MUM!" Doc screeched. She tried to run forward, but Anita grabbed her before she could. The computer stand was sparking dangerously. Robot or not, Anita was pretty sure the kid would be badly hurt if she went anywhere near it.

Anita felt Doc shaking in her arms, the girl's body heating up significantly, so much so that she had to let go. The wall Oculus and Anita had came in through opened up once again, and the lights started flickering the more distressed the girl became. Then, all at once the lights went out all together, leaving the trio in pitch black darkness.

Anita could feel Doc shaking next to her. Though from fear or anger she couldn't say. She couldn't see through the dark, but she aimed the comment in the direction she remembered Oculus standing last. "We have to shut her up," she hissed. "She's going to –"

Too late. As the red back up lights switched on, Anita spotted Dibney and Julian round the corner. The two groups stood, staring at each other, stunned. Abruptly, Doc went silent as soon as her eyes landed on the two older men. "She's still in here?" Julian said quietly after a moment.

"Well…apparently," Dibney muttered. Something about that look in his eyes bothered Anita. He looked almost guilty. "I didn't even know this room still existed…Doc –" The man started forward, but the girl backed against the wall.

"Who are you?" Oculus asked, stepping in front of the robo girl protectively. (But it wasn't really a fatherly manner. It was…something else. Something more personal to Anita, like the way and older sibling might stand up for their kid brother or sister.)

Dibney took a step back from the amnesiac, almost looking frightened. "Ralph Dibney," he said, pointing to himself before gesturing to his buddy. "And Julian Alberts."

"You work here?" Anita asked. Her insides felt like the wet clay her mother sometimes used to sculpt, but somehow her voice came out sturdy as a rock.

"In a sense," Julian nodded.

"What do you mean?" Anita asked.

He looked back and forth between the trio in the hidden room, hesitating "It's complicated. We're…not with the museum." Julian's eyes fell wearily on Doc, hiding behind Oculus and Anita. "I'm not sure how much you remember…about Cisco…that night he put you in here…"

"Zero-Zero?" Doc said, stepping forward at the mention of Mr. Ramon.

"Zero-Zero?" Anita echoed.

"Like on a graph," Julian explained. "The two points zero-zero are the starting point. Or the –"

"Origin," Anita interrupted. "So, this Cisco guy is Doc's origin, meaning he built her?"

"Indeed," Julian nodded.

"Just like he built Patch and the time travel books," Oculus muttered to himself.

Anita stared at him. "Wait. Ramon built Patch too?" Though, in Heinz sight she shouldn't have been surprised. Of course someone who built two versions of time machines and a robotic child could also build a holographic cat too. Oculus ignored her though, turning to Julian and Ralph. "What is this room, and what do you do down here?" he asked. "Why is this little girl locked away in here?" His voice had taken on that troubling edge again, and Anita involuntarily took a step back.

Ralph and Julian exchanged looks, frowning as if they had just had the same exact thought process. Their bodies simultaneously squared up, like they were trying to assert dominance between the two groups. "We don't have to tell you anything," Ralph said. "You're not even supposed to be down here!"

"Neither are you," Anita shot back, her voice somehow still much stronger than she felt. She watched as the men's shoulders slumped, sorry filling their eyes instantly, and she smirked with satisfaction. "So, if you take us down, we'll take you down with us."

"Listen, Anita –" Ralph started, but she cut him off.

"I never told you my name," she said. Ralph paused for a moment, as if he were processing her words, trying to remember if she had actually told him her name or not. When he found that she had, indeed, not the frown on his face deepened.

"Oh, right…" he said slowly. Oculus moved Anita behind him, staring at the older men skeptically.

"We knew your mother," Julian said quickly. "Well, sort of. We met briefly."

"I don't understand," she said. Next to her Doc was looking at her, unblinking, as if she were processing something about Anita. She wasn't sure how she felt about that. Oculus was standing in front of the two girls, as if he were afraid the older men might try to harm them. Anita was too distracted to get annoyed at his protective attitude though. The two older men had said they'd known her mother. But if that were true why had her mother never mentioned them before?

Julian sighed. "Look, we'll explain…what we can. It's dangerous for you to know too much."

"Dangerous?" Oculus asked. "How?"

* * *

I'm not sure if I like the way this ended up or not. I had planned for it to go completely different, but you know how writing is. You want the story to go one way, but it decides to ignore you and go off on a completely different route. I guess it's alright though. Hopefully y'all liked it anyway.

I do hope I'm not being too obvious about Oculus's identity before he lost his memory in this chapter. But I suppose we'll see when it is finally revealed. Do you have any guesses as to who it is yet?

I have also started a watching fic for Sandstorm, for those of you who have expressed interest for that. There is only one chapter up so far, and it's only on Wattpad so far; but I will put it on FFN as well as update it soon. Promise.

That's all for now, toodles!

~ Elsie


	26. Arguments and Comfort

**Warning: Reference to sexual abuse and brief description of rape in the third scene. Viewer discretion advised**

* * *

Deserey stormed into her room with a huff. She would have slammed the door behind her if it hadn't been a sliding bulkhead. On her nightstand she spotted her sketch book, but she didn't think she was in the mood for art. Her irritation would just make the hobby frustrating and unbearable.

"Sandy." Even if she hadn't recognized his gruff voice, Dez would have known it was Mick. He was the only one who used that stupid nickname.

She turned, a strand of hair flinging around in her face. "What?" she said, a little harsher than she'd intended. "Your turn to babysit?" Angrily, Dez yanked the curl out of her face, hissing in annoyance when it fell back in her eyes a moment later.

Mick didn't answer her question. He just folded his arms over his chest, glaring at her like she was his worst enemy. There was a fire in his eyes, burning with rage. (Cheesy way to describe it, yes, but an accurate one.) It was like looking into the depths of Hell itself, flames flickering violently, darkness swallowing her whole, drowning her and snuffing out what little will to live she had. For a moment, Deserey stopped struggling with her hair, a shudder running down her spine.

Over the last few days, traveling with him and the others on the time ship, she had somehow forgotten both he and Snart were heartless criminals who had no issues with killing people for the fun of it. She'd forgotten all the news reports – as small of an amount as it was – she'd seen, how violent and utterly psychotic Heatwave could be. And maybe, for one small second, she feared for her life. Because it really did look like he might try to strangle her.

Instead, he said, "Lose the attitude with Snart."

Deserey quickly looked away from him, her heart thumping in her chest. That was all he wanted? To lecture her about her goddamn attitude? Seriously?! She pushed her hair out of her face again, trying not to focus on how frightening he was and instead on the curl and how annoying her hair was, (seriously why was it being such a pain in the fucking ass today?) and hoping he hadn't seen the panic in her eyes.

"Fuck off," she told him, which was probably the wrong thing to say. His glare intensified. Dez tried to resist the urge to flinch, but she thought she had failed miserably at that. (She couldn't really remember. Maybe not.)

Mick took a step closer, his glare not easing up one bit, and suddenly, like a car's gear shift abruptly being switched, Deserey flashed back to her time as a street kid.

She remembered this one time in particular. The day had marked the first of three years that Dez would have lived as a street rat. This guy had jumped her in an alley. She'd been looking for scraps to build an art piece, but in the process she had found a watch made of solid gold. She had thought that maybe she could have sold it, gotten some money and moved out of that hell hole of a town she'd been in. But the guy had appeared from no where. (He'd probably been up on one of the fire escape platforms and jumped down when he spotted her.)

He'd been about the same size and height Mick was. She'd been able to defend herself, then – despite being several inches shorter than the guy and no where near his size – by squaring up to the punk and showing off her own mean glare. (She didn't save the watch, though.) But back then she had also had a lot more ferocity.

Dez really doubted she'd be able to hold her own against someone of Mick's stature again. (Maybe if she threw some sand in his eyes first…) The first time had just been pure luck anyway, and even then she had still been badly beaten up. Still, she found herself antagonizing him with a glare anyway. (It wasn't as intimidating as she would have liked, though, because that dumb strand of hair kept falling in her eyes, and she had to keep pushing it back.)

"I said drop the attitude," Mick growled.

"Make me," Dez hissed. She could tell her stubbornness was pissing him off, and he might have even been a little tempted to fry her with his heat gun, only she'd noticed he didn't bring it with him to her room. (She guessed he knew he'd be too tempted to use it on her with the bitchy attitude she had.)

"You think I won't?" Mick's glare only grew more intense, as his hands balled into fists, a clear sign Dez should have probably just shut up. She didn't.

"What are you gonna do about it? Hit me?" Deserey rolled her eyes, like she wasn't remotely afraid of that prospect. She aggressively shoved the strand out of her way as it fell in her eyes once more. Her heart was pounding like an angry beast, but she wasn't sure if it was from the fear or irritation.

Mick didn't say anything to that, though she could tell from the look on his face that he was pretty tempted to do that too. "Knock it off with the attitude," he repeated. "Don't care if you're a bitch to everyone else, but don't even think about it with Leonard."

"What, so he got offended that I called him out about that whore and sent his body guard?" Dez scoffed. "Fuck you. Both of you." The strand of hair fell in her face again. Dez yanked it out of her face so hard it hurt her scalp a bit.

"Leonard didn't send me," Mick huffed. He seemed kind of offended by the insinuation. "I can think for myself! I'm not just sitting around waiting for him to tell me what to do!"

Deserey rolled her eyes again. "Whatever. I don't give a shit. Get the hell out of my room." She put her hand on his chest, and she was surprised he let her shove him into the hall way. The curl fell in her eyes one last time before she completely lost it.

Dez screamed at the top of her lungs, even startling Mick. She grabbed the strand of hair, clutching it in her fist. "I am just gonna cut my fucking hair off! God damn it!" She stormed back into her room, violently rummaging through her dresser, searching for scissors, only to growl in annoyance when she found none.

"We took all the sharp objects, dumb ass," Mick hissed from the doorway, still glaring at her.

She whirled around, glaring right back. "Piss off!" Dez stomped over, her hand raised to slam the door in his face before she remembered they didn't swing. She let out another growl of annoyance and bellowed down the hallway, hoping her voice would carry to the bridge, "God damn it, Rip, why the _fuck_ can I not slam these _mother fucking doors!"_

She turned to the ceiling. "Gideon! Slam the door in his face!" But Mick stormed off before she got the satisfaction of seeing the door close on him, which sort of pissed her off even more.

* * *

The next day, Mick was in the galley, when Haircut started acting awkward as hell. He was sitting at the table eating a plate of gluten free pancakes. (Mick only figured that out after he had tried to steal them from the little nerd and realized they tasted disgusting.)

Once Mick was sitting across from him, beer in one hand, fork in the other, the scientist seemed to grow fidgety. Mick glanced up at him, figuring he was probably just worried he was going to pick pocket him. People were like that whenever he was around.

Either that or they were afraid he'd burn them to a crisp. It was usually one or the other, but if Mick were being completely honest, he was far too lazy to do any of that at the moment. Besides, what could Haircut possibly have that Mick would even remotely be interested in? He probably just filled his pockets with a bunch of boring nerd junk.

"What?" Mick growled, as he began chowing down on his own breakfast.

"Uh, well," Ray said, stumbling over his words. Hesitantly, he scooted his chair closer, an awkward grin on his face. Mick watched him suspiciously. "I – Well, I over heard you and Dez arguing last night," he went on. Mick wanted to point out that he and Dez had been shouting so the whole ship had probably 'overheard' them arguing, but he didn't really get the chance since Haircut kept rambling onward.

"So, I thought maybe I could help you work it out," Ray said. "You know, in a less hostile way." He kept looking at Mick with that stupid grin of his face, and the arsonist rolled his eyes.

"We don't need couples' therapy, Haircut."

Ray frowned, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. Mick figured something about the phrase had bothered him, which was made evident by his next words. "That's…an odd way of putting it…" Ray shrugged, grinning again. "But it's not really like that. It's just talking about things…calmer."

Mick stared at him. It wasn't the first time he'd been told he needed to be calmer. In fact, even Leonard had told him that on more than one occasion. At this point the phrase had lost all its value with him. "That's never gonna happen," Mick told him bluntly. To someone like Haircut it probably seemed like an act of defiance, but it really wasn't. It was just a fact.

"Oh," Ray said. "Okay." He sat there for a moment, fidgeting nervously. Mick tried to ignore him, as he turned back to his food. But he was kind of distracting. "…Something else you want to say?" Mick asked, a bit annoyed.

Ray jumped, like he had somehow forgotten Mick was in the room. (Mick sort of found that amusing.) He started wringing his hands, opening and closing his mouth like a dying fish. "Uh," Ray finally managed after several moments of nervous twitching. "Well…"

He opened his mouth to say something, but before whatever it was could come out Deserey and Kendra walked in to the room, and he changed course. "Oh, speak of the devil!" Ray grinned at Dez, jumping up. The greeting was followed by a string of rambling nonsense. "Not that you're a devil or that I think you look devilish. It's just that we were just talking about you and –"

Deserey walked over and grabbed his shoulders. "Ray, hun," she said seriously. "Air. Breathe it."

He nodded slowly. "Right," he said. "Yeah…Uh, I'm gonna go find Rip and see if we're in Russia yet." He started towards the door, before apparently remembering his dirty dishes and turning back around. When he fumbled them twice, Dez took the dishes from him.

"I'll get it," she told him, and he nodded and left promptly. Kendra frowned, as she ordered a strawberry smoothie to sip on. She leaned on the counter, as she stuck the straw in her mouth. "That was kind of weird."

Deserey shrugged, as she placed the plate and silverware in the dish washer. "Seems normal to me."

Mick ignored them both, as he finished eating himself. He stood up to leave when Deserey stopped him. "Hey, pick up your dishes!" she ordered. "I'm not your mother, I'm not doing them for you, too!"

Mick glared at her, and Kendra watched the two of them, like she was afraid they'd start shouting again. But Mick didn't really feel like arguing, so he put the dishes in the washer and stalked out. Unfortunately, the space in the back of the galley was a bit small, and he brushed up against the hawk chick on his way out. That wouldn't have been a big deal, and he might have even flirted a bit if she were someone else. But when they made contact, Kendra completely lost her shit.

She dropped her smoothie, glass shattering and drink splattering all over the floor. Kendra screamed and fell over, breathing heavily, like she thought Mick was going to do something perverted. (Which he found a bit offensive. He was a criminal sure, but he wasn't that kind of criminal.)

Deserey shared a look with Mick, and he shrugged. "I didn't do anything," he defended. Dez frowned and nodded, making an odd expression, as she looked at the hawk goddess. Kendra was looking back at them with wide eyes, her hands clutching at her heart. For a moment her eyes flashed red, and her nails grew into talons. "I know," Dez said quietly. "Uh…Why don't you go find Ray? I'll figure out what's wrong."

From the tone in her voice, Mick guessed she already had an idea about what was happening to Kendra and just didn't want to fill him in. He scoffed. "Fine, but when she goes all insane chicken lady, don't blame me if she kills you."

And then he left. Neither mentioned their shouting march from the night before. Neither apologized for it either. Those could have been the last words they'd ever said to one another, and neither would have particularly cared.

Mick found Leonard in the hall outside his room, leaning on the wall like he'd been waiting for him. (And from the impatient look he gave him when he arrived, he guessed he probably had been for some time.)

"We're five hours from Russia," Leonard said, which was as close to hello Mick would get. "With this team it'll take at least an hour to decide on a plan once we get there, so that gives us six to do what we need to do."

Mick looked at him, because he hadn't told him about any devious schemes. (Though, Mick was kind of use to that by now, too. Len was kind of greedy when it came to his thoughts and reasonings.) "What do we gotta do?"

"…Let's call it heist," Leonard said, and he had an odd look that Mick couldn't quite place.

"For?"

Leonard didn't respond, which Mick thought was a bit strange. Normally, he'd at least tell him what they were stealing. Then, there was the fact that his eyes had done that thing where they'd get a little dangerous looking, like that glacier that brought down the Titanic. It was something that really only happened when he thought he had to defend himself, when they had a bit too much heat on them after a job. A thing that only happened when something was seriously pissing him off and he was trying to stay calm.

Mick had seen that look a lot over the years. Usually it was directed at him, because he tended to lose it a lot; and Leonard didn't approve of that, of course. Other times it was directed at random idiots Mick never got the names' of. (They usually ended up dead anyway.) But occasionally, whenever he had the nerve to even show his face, the look was directed at his father. Those were the moments when that look really scared Mick.

Because Leonard never really knew how to act around his old man. Depending on the day Len was having there was a fifty-fifty chance he'd cave and do whatever his father, Lewis, wanted. (Eighty-fifty in favor of the bastard of a father if Lewis did something stupid like threaten Lisa.) Though, Mick knew it couldn't be his father that was bothering him now. For one thing they were time traveling and Lewis would have no way of contacting him. For another, Leonard had killed his old man a few months back.

"We only have about ten minutes, before Rip and Jax figure out I took the key to the jump ship, Mick," Leonard said impatiently, narrowly avoiding the topic. "We need to hurry if we don't want to get caught. Are you in or out?"

"In," Mick said, partly because he wanted to steal something and partly because he didn't really like that look in his partner's eyes. He'd be able to keep an eye on him if he went with him.

"Get your gun," Len told him. Mick didn't take long to find it, only a second or two. Then, the duo went on their way to the jump ship.

* * *

After Mick left the galley, Deserey kneeled in front of Kendra, eyeing her worriedly. The hawk goddess's eyes were still beat red, and her talons were still out.

"Hey…" Deserey said quietly, using the same voice she used whenever one of her kids had a nightmare. "It's okay. You can put the claws away now…" She held her hand out, but she refrained from touching her. Panic attacks were different for everyone. Some people needed you to hold them tightly, while others grew sharp talons and turned homicidal. Deserey doubted she'd want to be touched right now.

"Just look at me," Deserey said softly. "It's safe." Slowly, Kendra came around. She blinked, as her eyes went back to normal and her talons shrank back to finger nails; she smiled sheepishly. "Sorry…"

Deserey nodded curtly. There was an overwhelming desire to ask her if she was alright, but she knew that was a stupid question. Obviously the answer was no. So, she didn't say anything.

Kendra sat against the wall, staring into blank space. She didn't move, not even to blink. Her expression was full of melancholy, but she wasn't crying. It was as if her entire body had just been completely shut down, and now she was doomed to sit in this position for the rest of her days. Deserey frowned and moved to sit next to her. She still didn't say anything, though; she knew from experience that sometimes words didn't need to be spoken. Sometimes, just showing up was all that counted. Kendra shuddered, but she didn't meet the other woman's eyes.

"He was my son," she said quietly, and Deserey guessed she was probably talking about Professor Boardman. "But I can't even remember him." Slowly, she glanced up, her eyes void of all emotions. "I can't remember anything. His first words. His first steps…" She shook her head, looking down at her hands. "I don't even remember carrying him. The happiest memories a mother can have is the memories with her children. Holding them, loving them…But I don't. I don't remember anything. I've lived lifetimes. Lifetimes, Dez. But I only remember one thing from each of them…I remember being afraid. I'm always afraid…"

"Is that why you flipped out on Mick just now?" Deserey asked, but she knew that wasn't quite it.

Kendra shrugged. "Partly, but not the whole reason…" She looked at Deserey, and she nodded, hoping to prompt her to continue. "It's about…" She faltered, letting out a heavy sigh.

"Take your time," Deserey said. She wasn't a therapist by any means, and she had only ever met one person – that being her old college friend Lucy – who had any sort of traumatic experience under her belt. But she figured it probably wouldn't be a very good idea to push Kendra too much. She'd need time to process and figure herself out.

Kendra pulled her legs up to her chest, hugging them with her arms and placing her head on her knees. "It's about…S-Savage…" She stumbled on his name slightly, like just saying it would someone summon him on to the Waverider and allow him to kill everyone onboard. "…He raped me."

Deserey's heart stopped for a moment. "I thought we stopped him…"

Kendra shook her head, her eyes getting a little glassy. "Not in the fifties. Before…in a past life. Maybe multiple lives. I don't…I don't know. It's just that since the fifties all these repressed memories started popping up and…and…" Tears started spilling over, and her body began shaking. "I…I think there was even one lifetime. He…he kidnapped me and chained me to the bed in the basement…It happened every night, before he eventually just killed me," She shook her head, staring at the floor, not bothering to wipe the tears away. "Just now when Mick touched me it sent me back to…that place. I mean, I know he probably didn't mean it but…" She shrugged helplessly, still trembling. "And the same with that guy at the Pentagon. I…I just…"

"Hey…" Deserey said, her voice so soft even she could hardly hear it. She reached out to Kendra, before hesitating. "Can I..?" When the hawk warrior nodded, she gently wrapped her arm around her shoulders, pulling her in for a tight hug. She had read somewhere once that hugs were a nearly full proof way to calm someone down. "Your hawk thingie is just a defense mechanism. You've been through something terrible, it's only natural that you want to protect yourself. The Pentagon guy will heal up, and I'm pretty sure Mick will just get over it."

"I guess so…" Kendra nodded slowly. Her hair sort of got in Deserey's face as she did so, since they were still hugging, but she didn't really mind. "But I keep thinking about Aldus…"

"What about him?" Deserey asked.

"What if he's not Carter's?" Kendra asked slowly. "What if he's…What if he's…"

Deserey pushed Kendra up gently so that she could look her in the eyes. "Kendra," she said seriously, "your son was not a rape baby."

"How would you know?" Kendra frowned.

"Monsters can't have children," Deserey reasoned. "Savage is a monster if I ever saw one. So, in the words of Jerry Springer, he is not the father."

Kendra let out a small laugh. "Your logic seems pretty flawed but okay."

"Got you to laugh at least," Deserey shrugged. "Now come on. Let's go find our third wife." She stood up, holding out her hand for Kendra. She took it, and together the two went off in search of Sara.

* * *

Annnd done. So, you'll notice I'm taking my time with getting them all to Russia. Sorry about that. I just have some filler stuff I wanna get through before going into that, and I can't fit all of it into one chapter. Hopefully you're enjoying the added scenes and the slower pace, though.

Also, while my current semester of college is quickly coming to an end (only two more weeks! Eek!) and I'm not doing too hot at the moment, I've decided to take a semester or two off and have another go out my original novels. Because of that, I'm probably going to be even slower at fanfic updates. But I will update! Promise! I'll try to keep the waiting pool around two or three weeks, no longer. I hope that's not too inconvenient for y'all. Thanks for understanding


	27. Football Therapy and Accidental Spying

After an hour of goofing off with Kendra and Sara, the hawk warrior seemed much more at ease. Deserey eventually excused herself to use the rest room. On her way back, she ran into Rip, who seemed a bit perplexed. Dez approached him, frowning worriedly, because she wasn't sure she had enough energy for another pep talk. "You good?" she asked.

"Hm?" Rip said, like he hadn't heard her. And when she repeated the question he nodded vigorously. "Oh, yes. Fine. I just seemed to have misplaced the keys to the jump ship…"

"Maybe you need a mother's touch," Deserey joked. "Where did you see them last? I'll help you look."

"Well, I was talking to Dr. Palmer and Mr. Snart on the bridge and…" Rip trailed off, making an agitated face as he hissed, "Bullocks."

Deserey felt her mouth twitch upwards, and she covered it with her hand to hand the forming smirk. "Len stole them didn't he?"

"Afraid so," Rip sighed. He looked up at the ceiling, hands on his hips in frustration. "Gideon, would you inform Mr. Snart that I would like to speak with him immediately?" There it was again. That dad voice that he shared with Deserey's ex husband…

"I'm afraid that Mr. Snart and Mr. Rory are no longer aboard the Waverider, Captain," the AI informed.

Rip cursed again and shot Dez a slightly irritated look when she chuckled. She shrugged. "Sorry," she said. "But in all fairness, they did say they were going to rob history blind before even stepping foot on the ship."

Rip sighed. "I suppose you're right…" His next words were directed at the ship's AI, "Notify me the moment they arrive back on the ship."

Gideon didn't respond, but Deserey figured she'd probably understood her orders. Dez and Rip began walking down the hall, the captain looked rather miffed at the two thieves while Deserey silently wondered what had prompted their little side adventure. Boredom? They had been flying for at least an hour, and Deserey was starting to get a bit stir crazy herself.

"Hey, how long do we have until we reach Russia?" she asked, giving Rip a side ways glance.

"Four hours now," he told her, shoving his hands in his trench coat's pocket. It was something it did quite a bit, but Deserey never had enough nerve to ask about it. She guessed it was a nervous tick of some kind, though she wasn't sure what he was so nervous about. Saving his family? Stopping Savage? Leading a team when he'd been a lone wolf before? It was hard to pin point a singular thing.

"Blegh," Deserey groaned childishly, running her hand through her hair. (She'd made sure to keep it tied back after her shouting march with Mick the night before.) "Why can't we just time jump there?"

"Because," Rip said, using that dad voice again, "you and the others needed some time to collect yourselves, as was made evident by the argument after the Pentagon and your little spat with Mr. Rory not five minutes after I sent you all off."

Deserey scoffed. "That was just…" She stopped, realizing she couldn't really defend herself. It had been very childish and unprofessional. Mick had just been standing up for his friend, and she'd treated both him and Leonard like crap. She really was a bitch, wasn't she?

"And by the way," Rip said, his voice taking on a sort of teasing tone Dez didn't know he had, "if you've got a problem with the ship's doors you could have just told me about it. You didn't have to go shouting about."

Deserey covered her face with her hands, laughing in embarrassment. She was pretty sure her cheeks had heated up, but she wasn't really worried about blushing in front of the captain, oddly enough. "So bad…" Dez muttered into her fingers, finding the appropriate words to finish her sentence from earlier.

Rip smirked a little, and Dez couldn't help feeling a little prideful at that. She hadn't seen him really smile or anything since they'd began, not even when he talked about his family. But the look was gone just as quick as it had come, and she might as well have imagined it.

Deserey pushed her hands across her head before dropping them to her sides and letting out a heavy breath. "Okay. Well, why we're on the topic of flipping out on Mick… I guess I should mention that Kendra did that hawk flight or fight thing again." Rip looked confused for a moment, so Dez told him what had happened in the galley. When she had finished, he just nodded slowly. He sighed.

"Between Kendra, Sara, and our resident Rogues, what am I going to do…" Rip muttered. Deserey assumed he was talking to himself, but she answered him anyways.

"Not sure about Len and Mick," she said, "but Kendra and Sara have almost the same problem, so if you can convince them to talk to each other or something maybe they can figure it out together."

Rip stopped walking abruptly, as a light bulb went off in his head, and Deserey almost left him behind. "That's actually not a bad idea," he said. Then, he frowned. "Hold on. When did you find out about Sara's – er – troubles?"

Deserey shrugged. "Y'all were fighting about it outside my room the other morning, and then she almost killed me in the training room." It was weird, even to her, how casual she had managed to sound about it. Then, she made a frown of her own, realizing something. "Hey! What do you mean actually?"

But before Rip could defend his word choice, the duo heard yet another argument ensue. It sounded like Professor Stein and Jax. Deserey wasn't sure what they were fighting about now, but she didn't really care enough to figure it out since the two halves of Firestorm were pretty much always arguing about something. In fact, the only time she had seen them actually speak nicely to one another was when Young Marty had followed them on to the Waverider back in the seventies.

Rip shot Dez the most exasperated look she had ever seen, and she could just tell the team was really starting to wear him down. He was probably regretting even asking any of them to join him. "This," he said, "is why we didn't just time jump."

Rip and Deserey found two halves in the cargo bay of the ship. Jax had his arms folded over his chest, a huffy expression on his face. Stein stood across the room, looking just as agitated at the younger man. "Never fear, kiddos," Deserey said. "Mommy and Daddy are here!" All three men gave her strange looks, and she asked, "What?"

They ignored her. Rip looked at the other males with disapproval. "What's going on, now?" he asked. "Can't we go three minutes without someone arguing with someone else on this ship?"

"Tell that to Grey," Jax grumbled. "He's the one who keeps rambling on and on about physics and focusing." From that comment, Deserey guessed the disagreement had resulted in a training exercise gone wrong.

"I wouldn't have to ramble, if you would just listen to me," Stein retaliated, a bit childishly for a sophisticated science professor like himself.

Rip and Dez shared a look with each other, silently communicating in a way that only parents could. The message passing between them was clear: defuse the situation before it ended up like the feud from the previous night.

Deserey took a seat on one of the random crates Rip had stacked around the room, tugging at the hem of her grey jacket and crossing her legs like a pretzel. It was a casual position she always took up whenever she needed to stop an argument between her kids before it got too out of hand. She found the cavalier attitude tended to calm the angry parties down a bit, like seeing her so at ease somehow put all their stresses to rest.

Rip followed her lead, perching himself on another crate, leaning forward and placing his forearms on his knees. Another thing that he did that reminded her of Darryl…It was a bit strange seeing the captain look so calm and, well, normal, considering he was probably one of the most stressed out people she had ever met; but Deserey really appreciated the effort. Idly, she wondered if he had ever had to use this trick on Jonas…

She cleared her throat, bringing herself back into the present. Jax and Stein were staring at Deserey and Rip like they had lost their marbles. Deserey ignored their gazes, rummaging through the crate next to the one she was sitting on. Eventually, she came out holding a foam (American) football. There was at least a dozen more in the crate, so she pulled the thing in between herself and Rip so they could both easily access it. She thought Jax would have been able to appreciate her approach, but he just looked at her in annoyance.

"You're probably thinking this is some kind of therapy crap," Deserey said. "Like whoever holds the football gets to talk and everyone else listens. Something Ray might come up with. But that seems too boring. So, we're going to do this Momma's way. You two talk and for every eye roll or scoff or whatever other passive aggressive behavior you might exhibit…Rip and I will toss a football at your heads to knock some sense into you." It wasn't something she would do to her own kids, but she figured Stein and Jax were tough enough to take a few light hits. Besides, they needed some motivation to help get along. (Though, she wasn't actually planning on hitting them anyway. Maybe just throwing it near their heads rather than at them.)

Rip made a face, as he took up one of the footballs from the crate. "These aren't real footballs," he muttered. "But carry on." Dez tossed her football at his head for that remark, but he ducked before it could hit him.

"I played JV in high school," Jax reminded her. "You're not gonna hit me with any of those things."

Stein didn't seem to share the younger man's confidence. In fact, he looked quite worried for his own well being. "Isn't that a bit dangerous?" he asked. "You could break something. Or hurt someone. Or –"

Jax made an irritated sound, throwing his hands up. "Man, now he's lecturing everyone!" he complained. Rip threw his football at his head, but Jax easily caught it.

Deserey turned her attention to Stein, acting like Jax hadn't said anything. "They're made of foam," she told him. "They won't do any real damage unless we throw them really hard, but we shouldn't have to throw them at all…if you are nice to each other."

"I didn't see anyone chucking footballs at you and Rory when you two were fighting," Jax complained again, throwing the ball he held in the crate between Rip and Deserey.

"I'm mom," Deserey reasoned. "I can argue with whoever I want." She reached in the crate and took out another ball, tossing it at the youngster. "Now, stop complaining. This is happening."

"Whatever. This isn't going to work," he said, tossing the football back to her.

She ignored him, turning to Stein once more. He sort of looked frightened, like he thought she was about to throw the ball at him next. Instead, she said, "Doc, you go first. And remember you won't be hit if you're nice."

At the word 'Doc' the lights in the cargo bay flickered a bit, causing the occupants of the room to look around with confusion, before they went back to normal. Deserey frowned, remembering how Gideon had acted so strangely before when she had said the name 'Doc' too. She shook her head, figuring it was probably just a glitch. Nothing to worry about at the moment. "…Alright," Stein said nervously. He paused for a moment, contemplating his words before he said them for once, really not wanting to get hit with a football.

"We have to work together," he said finally. "Or else one of us, or both even, could end up injured or worse." The way he spoke was kind of odd, like maybe he was speaking from experience. And it occurred to Deserey that she didn't really know much about the professor. She had at least gotten a vague backstory from most of the others. But she had never actually sat down and talked with him like that. She didn't know if he was married, gay, straight. Or what his favorite book was (probably something about physics, but she didn't know the specific titles) or what time period he wanted to see most.

All she knew was that he was a professor, and he was one half of Firestorm. Maybe that was why she had taken to referring to him as Stein or Professor or even Doc instead of calling him by his first name the way she did with everyone else, the way she preferred to speak with people. He seemed too professional and not personal enough.

Something shifted within Jax. His shoulders slumped slightly, and he looked a bit guilty for his attitude earlier. "Yeah," he said, "I know. But that doesn't mean you have to constantly talk my ear off. I mean, it's like you don't trust me, man. Not to mention it's freaking distracting!"

Rip took another ball from the crate, but he didn't throw it. He just rolled it in his hands, like he was trying not to intrude more than what was necessary. Deserey understood where he was coming from. She herself was picking at the foam of her own football.

"Oh…my apologies," Stein said sincerely. "I only mean to guide you the way I did with –"

"Ronnie?" Jax guessed. Deserey frowned, especially when the professor visibly winced at the name.

"…Yes," Stein nodded.

Deserey glanced over at Rip, mouthing, who? But Rip just shrugged in response, seemingly just as lost as she was.

"Well, I'm not Ronnie," Jax said. "So, you gotta stop treating me like I am." With that, Jax walked out, looking a bit fed up and annoyed but not quite as angry as he had been before. At least now he seemed to be able to somewhat see things from the professor's perspective.

Deserey looked at Stein carefully, as she and Rip tossed the footballs back into the crate. (She was sort of glad they didn't really need to use them.) "Who's Ronnie?" she asked.

Stein stiffened at her question. His face contorted in a very uncomfortable expression, making Deserey think this Ronnie guy must have been someone he'd been close with. Maybe they had had a falling out or something and it was still a sore subject for him? "…Another time, Perhaps," he said quietly after a moment. "Uh, excuse me."

With that, he left as well, looking quite put out. Rip and Deserey exchanged looks as he went.

* * *

Rip and Deserey spotted Sara as they left the cargo bay, and Rip called out to her. He was still a bit tense from the tension with Firestorm – Dez didn't blame him. She was too – but he still somehow managed to sound somewhat normal, as he told Sara to confront Kendra.

Sara shook her head, when he had finished talking. "I don't do feelings," she said. "If Kendra needs someone to talk through her grief with –" Deserey got the feeling she was about to suggest the hawk warrior go chat with Ray, but before she got the chance, Rip interrupted her.

"What Kendra needs is someone to help her control her warrior sides," he said. "Who better than someone who was formally dead?"

Sara sighed and glanced suspiciously at Dez. "You put him up to this, didn't you?"

Dex shrugged. "I may or may not have said something that may or may not have given him an idea."

"I knew it," Sara huffed. "You dang parents considering against the rest of us. It's not fair." She sighed. "But fine. I'll see what I can do."

Rip nodded, as Sara walked off. He turned briefly to Dez. "I…need to go to the library," he told her. It sort of sounded like he wanted to ditch her, but she could tell he didn't want to leave her alone incase she found some way to off herself. She decided not to call him out on that.

"You have a library on this thing?" she said instead. "Why haven't any of us seen it?"

Rip hesitated. "For one thing it needs a tune up. And another…Well, do you honestly expect I can trust you lot not to completely destroy it?"

"That's…fair," Deserey agreed. "But can I see it if it's just us?" She grinned at him when he made an uneasy face. Honestly, she didn't think it would work, but he nodded and waved for her to follow him.

Rip lead her down a series of winding halls Deserey had never been through before. She tried to remember the way, but she found herself getting easily confused as they walked. All the walls looked exactly the same with those blue overhead lights and metal rafters.

Eventually, they arrived at a pair of double doors, which slid open upon their approaching footsteps. Inside, there was an old, oak desk, a mess of papers and books scattered on its surface, placed against the back wall. Behind the desk was a shelf full of random knickknacks and gizmos clumsily stacked. Across from the shelf was a large, flat screen tv mounted into the wall. The floor was a worn wood, scuffs and scraps all along its paneling, and the walls were a dark brown that sort of looked like they might give out at any given moment.

"Oh, honey," Deserey said, taking in the sight. "You need Bobby Berk bad!"

"I…don't know who that is," Rip said.

"He's the décor guy from Queer Eye," Deserey explained. "One of the Fab Five."

"Ah." Rip nodded, but he didn't say any more on the subject. He just approached the desk, silently sifting through the mess. Deserey followed him in, glancing down at some of the papers as he moved them around. They were files on varies people Deserey had never heard of before. She caught a few of them. John Stewart. Billy Batson. Diana Prince. Arthur Curry. Zatanna Zatara. Rachel Roth. Harper Row. Deserey spotted a few files on their team, now dubbed the Legends, too.

But he was shifting the papers too quickly for her to read much more than that. She spotted a couple of strange pictures of old relics and what appeared to be magical staffs, too, but she couldn't catch the names of any of the objects so she didn't worry about them.

"Who are they?" Dez asked, nodding at the names of the strangers. Rip placed the files in a rather sloppy stack.

For a moment, he looked like he might just ignore her question, but then he said, "Others."

Dez raised an eyebrow at him, hoping to prompt more of an explanation from the ex Time Master. Thankfully, it did. "People I might have asked to help me stop Savage instead."

Dez scoffed, but she was smiling. "Well, now I feel like a rebound," she joked. Stealing the desk's one and only chair, she grew serious again a moment later. "Why didn't you ask them, then?"

Rip shrugged, leaning against the wall with his hands in his coat pockets again. "Two reasons. One being that Diana Prince, Arthur Curry, and John Stewart will go on to be founding members of the Justice League, and they need to stick around for that."

Dez folded her arms, glaring him at the captain with suspicion. "The Justice League?" she said. "That sounds like something you're making up."

He shook his head, but instead of saying anything to provide proof, Rip simply moved the conversation along, as if Dez hadn't said a word. "The second reason being that, in 2016, Billy Batson, Rachel Roth, and Harper Row are only teenagers, despite what Mr. Batson's alter ego might look like." He had muttered that last part to himself, but before Dez could ask about it, he was moving on. "And Miss Zatara is a rather difficult woman to find alone."

Deserey shrugged. "Why not time jump to a place and time when the kids are adults and Tari or whatever is less popular?"

Rip flashed her one of those sheepish looks of his. "Convenience," he admitted. "I wanted to pick everyone up all at once so not to waste any more time than what was necessary."

Deserey shrugged. "What do they do?" She turned to the sloppy stack at the end of the desk and craned her neck a bit trying to read something off of at least one of the papers.

Rip spotted her doing so and, without answering her question, tucked them inside a red folder. He stuffed the folder in one of the desk's drawers, locking it with a silver key he'd pulled from his pocket a moment later. Deserey pouted.

"You're really not going to tell me?" she asked.

"I'm really not," Rip agreed rather sternly. He made a face and shook his head incredulously, as he placed the desk's key back in his pocket. "I'm not even supposed to be looking at them." He shrugged. "I only took them because I needed help, and I needed to know who I was getting it from. But even then I've only looked at the bare minimum. Personal time lines are just that: personal."

"Oh, fine," Dez relented, feeling a bit rude now. Here she was trying to poke into complete strangers' business, trying to know their life stories, their abilities, everything about them. She thought about how pissed she would have been if the tables were turned… "But what did you come down here for if not those papers?" Deserey asked, changing the subject. "Boardman's journal and the file we stole from the Pentagon are up in the parlour. So, it can't be that either."

"No," Rip said, and his voice sounded a bit awkward. "I didn't come down here for Savage." She rolled her hand, signaling for him to continue. It was slightly annoying, coaxing him like a timid animal, but Deserey understood, she supposed. Whatever it was, it was difficult to share, much like the details of that fight she'd had with her parents so long ago… Deserey shoved that thought from her head as soon as it had entered. She didn't need it. Didn't need them.

Rip shifted a bit, hands in his pocket once more. "Let's call it my personal time line," he said. "Our conversation in the galley previously had got me thinking…" He paused for a moment, and Dez nodded, starting to understand. But she let him say it. "I'm looking for my birth parents," Rip told her.

Something about the words stung, even though she'd been half expecting them. Deserey had such a rocky relationship with her own family, it had sort of given a bad stigma to all the other biological families in the world. She had a hard time trusting anyone who shared the same blood, and when looking at other's stories it was usually the same thing, too. Abusive mom or dad. Neglective grand parents or distant aunts or uncles. Rude as hell siblings...

Even on this ship. Leonard had briefly told her a few stories about his sorry excuse for a father. Mick was basically in the same boat. Rip's biological parents evidently didn't even want him, so she wasn't really sure why he was bothering with them. Bio families were trash. That was the reason Deserey and Darryl had opted for a surrogate mother. (That and the fact that Deserey was infertile.)

Deserey didn't say any of that, though, for fear of offending him. Instead, she said, "Oh. Well, um…" Deserey scratched the top of her head, despite not really having an itch. "Did you find anything yet?"

Rip shook his head. He looked down for a second, and Deserey felt a bit sympathetic. Because despite her pessimistic frame of mind surrounding family, she couldn't imagine not knowing where she'd come from. Maybe that's why Rip had started the futile search. Maybe he thought, if they couldn't save his wife and son, the he might be able to find his other family at least. "Hard to find someone when you don't know anything about them," Rip said.

She nodded slowly, bringing her knees up to her chest in the chair. Deserey rested her head in her hand, looking back at the captain. She tried to think of something helpful to say, anything that wouldn't seem rude, but nothing really came to mind; Dez wanted desperately for a change of topic…But she figured that would be rude as well. Rip must have sensed Deserey's internal struggle, trying to take her way through supporting him – or maybe he just also wanted to change the topic – because he said, "Well, I suspect I'm not going to find anything tonight either. How about we move this to the galley, eh?"

"The galley?" Deserey asked, raising an eyebrow. She was sort of surprised that he'd suggest there of all places. He didn't seem like the type to eat away his sorrows.

Rip shrugged. "I thought if you didn't see me eating something soon you'd force me too again."

Dez pointed at him, nodding quickly. "You right," she laughed lightly. "Let's go."

* * *

In the galley, Stein and Jax were sitting across the room from each other. Jax was leaning on the counter, munching on a bowl of Doritos; Stein was sitting properly at the table with a silver form, nibbling a grapefruit. Neither was saying anything to each other, which had Dez thinking that her therapeutic football act hadn't helped much.

Dez scrunched her nose up upon entering the room. "Someone hand me a knife so I can cut this tension," she muttered. Both Stein and Jax looked up at her, completely unamused.

"You're not here to throw more footballs at us are you?" Jax asked.

She shook her head, walking over to the counter. Taking a seat, she said, "Not as long as you two are good little boys."

"Hey!" Jax complained, as Dez stole one of his chips. She smirked back at him, before taking another one. He rolled his eyes, but Dez didn't think he was that annoyed considering he didn't bother to stop her. Meanwhile, Rip walked over to the food fabricator and grabbed a bottled water and a mini mince pie before joining Stein at the table.

"How are you two, then?" the captain asked the two halves of Firestorm, as everyone nibbled on their snacks.

They both shrugged. "Well enough," Stein said, which wasn't very encouraging.

"How long have you two, like, been together anyways?" Deserey asked, gesturing between Stein and Jax with a Dorito. "No offense but from the attitudes I'm guessing it hasn't been very long?"

"Well, no," Jax said, shaking his head. "We've only been Firestorm for a few months." He paused for a moment, stopping just before he put another chip in his mouth. "I mean, I have anyways." He ate the chip.

"Wait. I thought that Firestorm needed two halves?" Deserey asked.

"Er, yes?" Stein said, not quite meeting Dez's eyes.

"But you've been Firestorm longer than Jax?" she asked, eating her Dorito. Stein hesitated, as she swallowed the chip, but he eventually nodded. "Hm. Well, then I'm totally confused," Dez went on. "But anyway, the fighting makes sense now."

She stood from her chair, all three men watching half heartedly, as she washed the Doritos powder off her hands. "You haven't been partners like enough to really bond or whatever. I mean, I guess you can bond a bit in that time, but it's not like a pair who's been together for years. Like…um…" She snapped as the perfect duo came to mind. "Like Mick and Leonard."

Stein raised an eyebrow, looking vaguely offended. "Are you comparing us to criminals, Miss Dunet?"

Deserey shrugged, grinning sheepishly. "A little," she admitted. "But, think about it. They work together so well, because they've been together since their Juvie Days. They basically know everything about each other. They know what the other is thinking without even having to say anything about it, and if I had to guess, I'm pretty sure they've always got each others backs. They'd probably even die for each other."

Jax gasped and said, "Whoa." For a moment Deserey thought the kid saw her point and had experienced some sort of epiphany, but when she followed his gaze she saw what he'd really been looking at.

Deserey yelped, jumping back as her eyes landed on multicolored sand, swirling in mid air at the center of the room. The sand formed an odd shape, something similar to the bridge, though on a much smaller scale.

"Is that the jump ship?" Rip frowned, and Deserey shrugged, having never seen it before. She glanced at the sandy image, floating before them. Blue lights hung on what was apparently the walls of the jump ship, seats lining up just below them, a small control panel at the front.

A small movement at the edge of the image, made everyone in the galley jump. The sand changed slightly, forming two figures walking onto the Jump Ship. It didn't take long for Dez to recognize them as Mick and Leonard, and her mouth fell open.

"That's what I call a clean heist," Mick smirked, as he and Leonard took a seat each.

"Yo, are we spying on them?" Jax asked.

"It appears so," Rip said apprehensively.

"Astonishing," Stein muttered, eyes lighting up slightly. Deserey wished she could have shared his enthusiasm, but all she could focus on was the way her stomach was flopping around.

"Well, thanks for not setting the place on fire, partner," Leonard said half heartedly from the sand image. He tapped the console, looking thoughtful for a moment. "…One more stop," he eventually decided. Deserey hadn't known him for very long, of course, but she thought he was acting a bit off.

Mick stared at him, like he thought Len was being weird too, and the sandy image made his face look a bit fuzzy. "Which is?"

"1629 Hadenly Avenue," Leonard said stiffly. The sand made his body look like television static.

Jax looked around the group in the galley, frowning. "What's in Handenly Avenue?" he wondered.

Rip shrugged, looking confused as well. "From the brief research I did for the team, I believe that's where Mr. Snart grew up."

Deserey shifted, her stomach deciding it would like to play twister. She knew from the small amount Leonard had shared with her that if he was going to his childhood – for lack of a better word – home than it meant nothing good.

"…Oh," Mick said, looking a light bulb had gone off in his head, the sand swishing his form around slightly, as he sat up a bit. He must have known the address well and instantly recognized it.

"Shut up," Len snapped. He whirled around, glaring at his partner in crime like he had something very offensive; the sand separated briefly as he moved, so for a moment he was invisible inside the image.

"That's why you wanted to steal the Maximilian Emerald," Mick said, completely ignoring him.

"Mick," Leonard tried again, his voice rising a little. "Enough."

"You wanted to give it to your old man," Mick went on anyways, "so he wouldn't go to jail trying to steal it for himself."

Deserey remembered this story. He hadn't told her all the details, but she knew enough to realize that this was the thing that had put Leonard's father on the path to becoming an abusive jack ass. Her stomach was really determined to win that twister game now…

Jax frowned. "Wait, his father was a thief too?"

Rip's words from the library came to Deserey in a flash, and her stomach twisted some more. This was Leonard's personal time line…

"We shouldn't be watching this," she decided. "How do I turn it off?"

"Well, it's your powers," Rip told her. "Don't you know?"

"If I knew do you think I'd be asking you three?" Deserey hissed.

"Didn't Rip say something about not messing with the time line?" Mick asked, and the image shook again as he stood, briefly giving the arsonist invisibility. Deserey frowned, noting that he had actually used the captain's name instead of calling him 'the Englishmen' like he normally did.

"You're just gonna screw with history?" Mick hissed, seeming a little ticked by the idea.

"Yeah, well, history screwed with me first," Leonard shrugged, not seeming to care at all about his partner's sudden mood change.

Mick rolled his eyes, which looked a little strange since he was currently made entirely out of sand. "Whatever," he grumbled. "Just don't come bitchin' to me when you erase yourself from the time line."

Leonard rolled his own eyes, as he turned back around; the sand flickered and spread apart again at his movement. "If I erase myself from the time line, we'll have no idea who each other are."

"That's my point, ya idiot!" Mick said rather loudly, which made the flimsy sand image shake slightly.

Leonard muttered something under his breath that Deserey couldn't catch. (Probably a curse at Mick's expense.) "Just give me the damn thing. We're here."

Mick wordlessly tossed something at Len, which he almost dropped because the movement was so abrupt and unexpected. The sand swirled, forming a small green object in the ice villain's hands. The Emrald, Dez guessed. Len glared at Mick, but the arsonist just shrugged carelessly, as his partner passed him.

The sand around Leonard's formed changed, swirling like a sandstorm before settling on the scenery of a suburban yard, a starry night sky above. Mick had disappeared, being replaced with a metal ship similar to the Waverider, though much smaller. Deserey guessed the Jump Ship wouldn't even be a tenth of the entire Waverider.

Leonard took a deep breath, seemingly steeling himself before he went inside the brown house that now stood before him. He glanced around at the little swing set and tree in the yard, maybe letting a few memories wash over him, before continuing forward with a determined expression. Deserey's heart was taking a turn at the game of Twister now. She didn't even want to know what it was like to be faced with the one place that held so much trauma.

The sand image swirled once more, as Leonard entered the house. The first thing Dez noticed was that the Snart house looked a bit like her own place, that is to say: messy. Empty beer bottles sat on the round table in the dining room, poker cards laying next to them. Dirty clothes lay every where, on the floor, on the furniture. Random news paper clippings were stacked on one desk, along with more empty bottles.

Leonard made like he was going to pick one up, as he passed by, but apparently he decided that would have been too unsanitary because he yanked his hand away quickly, frowning distastefully; the sand made his face look even more displeased. He silently walked through the kitchen, walking right by a pile of dirty dishes in the sink that would have driven Darryl insane and back into the messy living room.

He stopped, spotting the contents on the coffee table: a stack of coloring books, a plate with the remains of what must've been a sandwich based on the bread crusts, a plate full of crayons, and a tiny brown teddy bear. Leonard regarded the childish items the same way a bomb squad might regard a ticking time bomb.

"I came down for a glass of water." The voice came just before the sand shifted to form the figure of a small boy, no older than eight years old, wearing little dinosaur pajamas.

Stein gaped at the image, mouth hanging open ever so slightly. "Is that –"

"Little Lenny?" Deserey finished. "I think so…"

Rip sighed, looking a bit on edge. Dez wondered if it was because he was worried Len would mess up the time line or if he was just being awkward about spying on the thief. (Not that she could blame him for either. Her stomach and heart were still going at it with a rather violent Twister game, after all.)

"I'm Leo," the little boy said, looking up at his older self, innocently holding his cup of water. "Are you friends with my daddy?"

Leonard eyed his younger self apprehensively for a moment, considering his words carefully. His eyes had a sort of glassy look to them, something Deserey had never seen before, and she suspected that, had he known anyone was watching him, he wouldn't have allowed it to form. "Kind of," he decided.

"I think my daddy's sleeping," Leo said helpfully. Leonard nodded and, after a moment's hesitation, he walked over and crouched before his younger self. "Can I tell you something, Leo? It's important."

Rip looked like he was holding his breath a bit, as the younger Leonard nodded. But he relaxed a bit when the adult Leonard spoke his next words, only for the relief to be replaced with guilt. "Don't ever let anyone hurt you. Ever," Leonard told himself, and Deserey really knew this was something he wouldn't be doing if he knew they were watching. Guilt perched itself on her shoulders like a hawk landing on its master's arm.

"Not here," Leonard went on, pointing to his head. "And especially…" He gently touched his younger self's chest. "Not here." He slowly took his hand back. "No matter what you always have to look out for yourself. Okay? You understand?" It was a voice Deserey hadn't ever heard him use before. Normally he spoke with that cold drawl he was so famous for. This…this was soft and gentle, sort of like a little stream of water, drifting ever so with the wind.

"I think so," Little Leo nodded, but the look on his face clearly stated he did not understand. Though before Leonard could say anything else to his younger self, a gun could be heard, readying for fire.

"Get the hell away from my boy, you son of a bitch," a man hissed, as the sand swirled around to form his image.

"Why don't you go on up to bed," Leonard said kindly to Leo. The boy nodded and silently left, the sand swirling a bit as he popped out of the image. Leonard stood up and turned around to face, who Deserey guessed was, Lewis.

He didn't look very much like Leonard, leaving Deserey the impression that Leonard must have gotten his appearance from his mother. The only thing Lewis shared with Len was his hair color: a dark brown. And even that was several shades off. He had dark, hostile brown eyes, and a blank expression that he may of worn when he was drunk off his ass. Around his face was a surprisingly well groomed beard, which sort of made Deserey wonder what Leonard would look like with facial hair.

Suddenly, Leonard's expression changed again, going back to his usual cold demeanor, if not a bit more intense. He walked around the dining room, pacing in an agitated manner, while Lewis grabbed the light above the dining room table, shining it on him and training his gun at his son's chest. "Talk fast," Lewis demanded, "or you take a bullet. What are you doing in my home?"

"A favor for you," Leonard said, as Lewis let the light drop and spin around on it's chain. Len reached in his pocket, where he had stuffed the diamond before coming inside. Lewis raised his gun, glaring.

"Watch it!" he hissed in warning.

"Relax," Leonard whispered back, raising the Emerald.

Lewis' eyes widened with surprise. He started to ask, "How did you –"

"Two days from now, you try to steal this," Leonard cut him off, "and you'll get arrested, and you spend five years in Iron Heights."

"What are you talking about?" Lewis asked, looking somewhere between completely shell shocked and playing dumb.

"Cut the crap," Leonard hissed quietly, like he didn't want to wake his younger self again. "We both know if I go down to the basement right now, I'll find floor plans for the Central City museum. Let's just say I've saved you the trouble…and from being arrested." Leonard placed the Emerald none too gently on the counter top.

Lewis glanced at the diamond, before lowering his gun and looking at Leonard skeptically. "How do you know all of this?"

"The same way I'll know if you even think of raising a hand to your wife and child," Leonard said, taking a few brave steps forward so that he and his father were nearly inches apart, his voice ten times colder than it was before. "I know who you are," he added cryptically. "I know the man you become. And it's all I can do to keep from ending you right here, right now, but if I do it means my sister's never born…So, you get a pass."

Leonard turned and left without another word, leaving Lewis frowning with confusion. "Your sister?" he asked the now empty room.

Then, all at once, the sand fell to the ground, the images disappearing as it did so. Deserey stared at the sand pile with wide eyes, her hand covering her mouth. Jax was sharing a frown with Stein, while Rip ran his hand along his face slowly.

"We…really should not have seen that," Deserey muttered.

* * *

Annnd done. This chapter is a bit longer than normal…but I figured that would make up for the wait for the last chapter. And also the fact that updates for my fanfic might get a bit slower soon, since I want to focus on my original stories again. (Try to anyways)

Lemme know your thoughts in the comments!

That's all for now, toodles!

~ Elsie


	28. Welcome to the USSR

The four people stood at the center of the galley, silently staring down at the patch of sand that now lay in the middle of the room.

Jax glanced around at the other three occupants in the room. "Alright, I'll say it. What are we gonna do about this?" he asked.

"Nothing," Stein said quickly, like it should have been obvious. When the others glanced at him, each with a frown, and he saw that it was not, in fact, obvious, he explained further. "We weren't meant to see what we saw. I believe that the most humane thing we can do is to pretend we didn't."

Deserey nodded slowly, letting out a deep breath. "Right," she muttered. "Humane…Got it." Rip and Jax nodded in agreement as well, just as Gideon's voice rang out overhead.

"Sir, Mr. Rory and Mr. Snart have returned to the Waverider," the AI informed.

"Uh, yes," Rip said awkwardly. "Thank you, Gideon."

Deserey waved her hand, commanding the sand back into the bag on her hip. Once every last spec had been removed from the floor, she closed her bag, steeling herself. Honestly, she had never been a very good actor, so she was sure she'd eventually crack and spill everything to Leonard. But she was willing to try, at the very least, to pretend she hadn't seen anything in order to spare him from the embarrassment.

"So," she said slowly, adjusting the bag on her hip. "Can we just time jump the rest of the way to Russia, now? I think that's enough cooling off, don't you?"

Rip pointed at her, as if to silently say, excellent point. He glanced at the ceiling. "Gideon."

The ship lurched, sending all four occupants of the galley tumbling to the floor in a tangled heap. Deserey sat up, rubbing her head where she had hit it against the floor. Rip groaned as he got to his feet, looking a bit agitated. "I meant once we got to the bridge and strapped in…" he sighed.

"Yup, you were right," Jax grumbled, clambering to his feet. "Definitely not something you wanna stand up for…"

"Not that I mind getting swept off my feet by a lovely lady," Deserey said, as she and Stein got to their feet as well. "Robotic or otherwise."

"Well, I suppose we had better go meet the others on the bridge," Stein said, looking ready for business. The other three nodded and followed him out of the room. Unfortunately, the awkwardness concerning Leonard Snart was not over yet.

As soon as they entered the bridge, Deserey heard the thief's voice. "—I asked for the new time line, Gideon," he was saying. He sounded rather pissy too, like whatever he was looking at was fairly irritating, and Deserey felt guilty at the fact that she already had a pretty good idea of what he was looking at.

"This is the new time line," Gideon said calmly, like she were explaining something complicated to a child. "Two days from when you left him, your father will be arrested trying to sell the Maximilian Emerald to an under cover police officer."

"Stupid son of bitch," Leonard hissed under his breath. Deserey wasn't sure whether he was talking about his father or himself. Either way it was quite alarming…

She shared a look with the three she was walking with, as they each gathered around the console at the center of the room. A silent message passed through the group: _remember, pretend you don't know._

Leonard was standing at the front of the room, glaring at the monitor on the wall, his arms folded in front of him so that his elbow was resting in the palm of one hand and chin in the palm of the other. He was alone, so Deserey guessed that he must have ditched Mick somewhere before coming here.

"He'll be sentenced to five years in Iron Heights," Gideon told Leonard. "Despite your intervention, his future remains unchanged."

Leonard turned away from the screen, spotting the group of four. For a second he looked shocked to see them, and then he was staring at them with the most intense look Dez had ever seen, like he was silently demanding to know how much they had over heard.

"Uh, what was that about?" Jax asked, and Deserey had to hand it to him. He was pretty good at playing dumb, especially when Leonard turned his piercing gaze directly on him. Evidently, Len had decided he wasn't too suspicious, because after a moment he relaxed. Deserey looked down at the floor, biting her lip, her gut threatening to strangle her. It was bad enough that she and the others had spied on him but here they were lying to his face, too. Of course the latter was to spare him…but still.

"…Nothing," Len said.

"Didn't really seem like nothing," Deserey said, the words tasting like acid in her mouth.

Len rolled his eyes, but Dez didn't think it was directed at her. (Surprisingly.) "My dad was never father of the year, but at least he never raised a hand to any of us," he said bitterly.

"Until he went to prison," Jax guessed. Leonard stayed quiet for a moment, not really meeting the younger man's eyes. Deserey glanced at Rip and the two halves of Firestorm, pursing her lips. The men shifted uncomfortably. Then, rather abruptly, Leonard's eyes were flickering back and forth between Deserey and Rip. Dez was startled by the sharpness embedded in them; she thought that they would have cut her if they'd been a knife.

He watched them, almost suspiciously, and he started to say, "Would you –"

There was a mutual understanding that passed between the two resident parents of the team, in which they each knew, somehow, what Leonard was going to ask before even he did; so, when the words began leaving his mouth, the two parents cut him off, speaking over one another with their responses.

"I couldn't," Deserey said. "Ever."

Rip said, "I'd never. I couldn't."

Leonard continued to watch them with that look of suspicion in his eyes, as if thinking they were lying. But after a short moment of reflection, something in his expression changed, and Deserey guessed he must have decided they were telling the truth. His expression was softer, closer to how he'd looked back at his childhood home. (Though maybe not quite as bad.) Maybe he was wondering what made his father different from them or why he'd drawn the short straw when it came to parents.

In any case, the look was gone as quick as it had came. Leonard swiftly turned to the center console, his eyes forming that ice wall again. "Anyway, Gideon said we were in Russia? What happened to the four hours?"

Rip looked startled for a second, and Deserey realized they hadn't come up with a lie. (They hadn't been expecting to be questioned on the matter.) "Chronos?" Rip said, but he didn't sound very convincing.

Leonard raised an eyebrow, probably about to call him out on it, but Jax jumped in to save the captain. "Yeah, he came at us with his lasers and grenades on his ship, so we had to move." It might have been a decent lie – Jax was pretty good at selling it, too – except Leonard clearly wasn't buying any of it.

"I thought you said we couldn't be tracked in the temporal zone," Leonard questioned Rip. "That's why we hide there, isn't it?" He was very clever and good at spotting bullshit, and Deserey was mildly annoyed by that.

"Uh, well, you see," the professor jumped in. "We left the temporal zone." Even without the stuttering or nervous twitching it wouldn't have been very helpful. There was no logical sense behind it, like he hadn't really thought it through before he'd said it. (Which was very ironic, considering he was one of the two geniuses they had on board.)

"Why?" Leonard asked. The boys shifted uncomfortably, none being able to come up with some clever lie to trick the master of trickery. _Guess_ _it's my turn,_ Deserey thought.

She sighed, hoping it was believable. "Oh fine," she said. "I'll just tell him." The boys gave her a panicked look, and she guessed they must have thought she was about to tell Leonard the actual truth. Deserey rolled her eyes, muttering, "Oh, you babies." Then, back to Leonard. "The truth is I'm on my period, and I wanted to get chocolate, because it helps with cramps and mood swings."

It was a blatant lie. She had, in fact, never had a period in her entire life. Dez only knew chocolate helped, because some of her old friends had told her as much. She also knew that they'd often used it as a "get away free card" from time to time.

Leonard still didn't look convinced. "Gideon can fabricate chocolate," he pointed out.

"I like it from a very specific time and place," Deserey said.

He rolled his eyes. She wasn't sure if he actually believed it or if he was just too tired of arguing, but either way he let it go. "What's in the file?"

Deserey turned to see Stein had stepped in to the little office next to the bridge and gotten the Pentagon file, like he was eager to change the topic. The professor set the file on the console, opening it up, as Ray, Mick, and Carter entered the room. "It appears our friend has been quite busy since we last saw him."

Everyone leaned in, taking glances at the file. Rip frowned at the big word printed in black ink at the center of the page. It looked like someone had just smashed their fingers on the keyboard and printed it out to Dez, but somehow Rip managed to pronounce a word from it. "Svarog?"

"The god of fire in Slavic mythology," Stein explained. "Though in this case it's a secret project the Soviets are working on." He turned the page, revealing a woman's photo. (She was really pretty, too: long brown hair, flawless pale skin, red lipstick and foundation enhancing her beauty ten fold.) "Considering Savage's involvement, most likely some sort of weapon."

Ray picked up the file, reading the woman's information below her picture. "Valentina Vostok. Graduated top of her physics program and then just dropped out of academia."

"To help develop Savage's weapon, no doubt," Stein said.

"The Cold War's up for grabs," Ray said, "and Miss Vostok is the linchpin." Rip took the file from Ray, taking a look for himself, and Deserey read over his shoulder. The woman – Vostok apparently – was very impressive. She was the top of her class, as Ray had said. And she had already invented some pretty nifty things, some of which Deserey had never seen anything like before. She guessed that Vostok had never gotten the credit she deserved – the eighties wasn't exactly the most accepting of time periods. ( Deserey would know. She grew up in them.)

Maybe that's how the scientist had ended up working for Savage. He'd promised her the recognition she deserved, probably with the intentions of welching on it when given the chance. (People like Savage never lived up to their promises, did they?)

Leonard shrugged indifferently, lazily placing himself in one of the seats. Deserey couldn't tell if he was still agitated from before or if he just really didn't give a crap about this one. "I say we put two in the back of her head and call it day," Leonard said.

Ray scoffed, and Deserey knew what he was going to say a second before he even moved his mouth to form the words. "We have no idea who this woman is," he reasoned, "or what her effect on history may be. She may be the next Madame Curie for all we know."

Leonard rolled his eyes, not seeming even remotely interested. "She's working for Savage," he said, standing up again. "That's all we need to know."

"She probably has no idea who's backing her research," Ray said. "Just let me approach her as a scientist, and we'll see what she knows about Savage's weapons program."

Deserey grinned teasingly, laughing a bit as she leaned on the top of the console. "I love how you see a pretty lady, and you're first instinct is to ask her about this psycho killer and science."

Ray tilted his head to the side, obviously not understanding what she'd meant. "Well, yeah. She could be the key to stopping Savage. What are my instincts supposed to be?"

Dez gave him a one armed shrug. "To think 'oh hey, she's hot,' maybe? I don't know."

Mick swiped the file from Rip, taking a glance at the scientist lady before tossing it back on the console. "She is hot," he confirmed.

"She is," Deserey agreed, taking the file for herself.

Ray rolled his eyes at the two of them. "Yeah," he said, "okay. She's pretty attractive, but there's no need to objectify her." Deserey stared at him, while all the other guys just looked bored. Ray frowned. "What?"

She stood up right, handing the file back to Rip as she shrugged again. "Nothing," she said. "I just thought dudes like you were a work of fiction."

Ray looked like he was about to ask more on the subject but before he could, Leonard interrupted and brought them back on track. "Anyway, it's 1986, you're American, and you don't speak Russian. She'll have you pegged as a spy in a second."

"Perhaps, I can help with that," Rip said. He closed the file and walked to the parlour. Placing the file on the desk, he picked up a small, rectangular box, bringing it with him as he returned. Rip opened the box, scooting it across the console's table so that it ended up in front of Ray and Leonard.

"What are those?" Carter asked, speaking up for the first time since he'd entered the room. (Deserey had almost forgotten he was there.)

"Ingestible translators," Rip said. "They attach to your larynx via neural interface. Swallow them; and you can speak and understand any language spoken to you."

Deserey picked one of the translators. It sort of looked like a pill you got from the pharmacy, oval and dark green with a small capsule around it. She swallowed it just to see what it was like, and Leonard and Ray took one for themselves too.

Stein, Jax, and Carter watched the three of them with interest. ( Mick wasn't really paying attention any more, sipping a beer he'd pulled out from his coat pocket.) "How do you turn it on?" Stein wondered.

"Gideon," Rip said, glancing at the ceiling. "Switch them into Russian." Deserey blanched, an odd feeling in her throat – sort of like drainage from a head cold. Ray made a face, grabbing at his own throat, but Leonard seemed virtually unaffected. When neither of the three who'd taken the translators spoke he prompted them with a short, "Well, go on. Say something."

"I don't know what to say," Ray said. It sounded English to Dez, but from the confused expressions the others wore she guessed they must've been hearing something else.

Ray and Dez exchanged grins. "I'm speaking Russian now aren't I?"

Leonard wasn't nearly as amused. He leaned against the console's table, rolling his eyes at Ray. "Now you're annoying in multiple languages."

"Hey, wait. Can we talk trash about them while they can't understand us?" Dez joked, gesturing at the others in the room.

Rip gave her an apprehensive look. "Whatever it is you just said I don't like it. So, Gideon, could you switch them back to English?"

The drainage sensation started up again, but this time Deserey was ready for it so it didn't startle her as badly. "Hm," she said, mostly just to see if everyone could understand her. "The last time I took a green pill from a guy in a trench coat I also took a trip, but it was nothing like this."

Everyone stared at her, a look of complete horror on their faces. She'd meant it as a joke, even though the events were true, but no one was laughing. Even Mick stopped drinking long enough to flash her a disquiet expression. Dez frowned and said, "What?"

Rip shook his head slowly, before quickly moving on. She didn't really understand what she had done to warrant such strange behavior, (and she sort of felt stupid for it) but she let it go for the time being. Maybe she'd ask them about it later. "…According to Vostok's file," Rip said, "she's a big fan of the ballet. She has box seats at the Bolshoi and attends every performance."

There was a _Pretty Woman_ reference in the back of her mind, a quote about the theater from the character Edward, but Deserey figured it wouldn't be a good idea to bring it up. After her last joke hadn't landed she didn't want to risk making another bad one.

"It seems the final performance of Le Roi Candeule is today," Gideon informed the group.

Rip turned to Ray, "Dr. Palmer, you will engage Vostok at the ballet, whilst you…" He turned, gesturing at Leonard and Carter. "Mr. Snart, Mr. Hall… you'll be his wing men."

"Oy," Leonard said. Deserey wasn't sure if he was making fun of Rip's accident or if he was complaining.

Carter just nodded silently. He seemed a bit off, Deserey thought. Awfully quiet…

"Better go bone up on Vostok's CV," Ray grinned, apparently not noticing anything wrong with either of his wing men. He walked off to commence his research.

"I guess we'll bone up on the ballet," Leonard said, walking over to Carter. "Gideon, bone us!"

"That…sounds so wrong, dudes," Jax said. He scrunched up his face, but no one acknowledged his comment. Leonard and Carter followed Ray out of the bridge, and soon the two halves of Firestorm had trickled out as well, leaving Rip, Deserey, and Mick alone.

They sat in silence, but it only lasted a second before Gideon's voice sounded around the room once again. "Temporal anomaly detected." She pulled up a map on the console's screen, a red dot showing where the anomaly was occurring.

"Chronos," Rip guessed. Looked like they'd be dealing the Hunter today after all…

"It appears his ship was damaged by the USSR's jets," Gideon said.

Rip frowned. "Is he still alive?"

"He went down just outside Moscow City limits," Gideon told him, which didn't seem like much of an answer to the question to Dez.

Rip glanced at Mick and Dez, reaching for the small revolver he had tucked under his coat. "Mr. Rory, Miss Dunet, how would you like to accompany me on a little mission?"

Dez tapped her bag of sand, making sure it was full. "Sounds exciting," she said.

Mick stood up, raising the heat gun in the air. Deserey heard the thing charging up, so at first she thought he was about to shoot it, but instead, he asked, "Will I get to use my gun?"

"A near-certain likelihood," Rip told him.

Mick nodded curtly. "Lead the way, Captain."


	29. The Deal

**Warning: Brief mention of self harm. Viewer discretion advised**

Rip, Dez, and Mick were sneaking through a small words. Shadows were lurking around every corner, which was a bit freaky, Dez thought. It reminded her of her street days, when she had to be on the look out for anyone who was looking to mug her. (It was odd, too, she thought, because she could have sworn it had just been morning not even twenty minutes ago…But time travel was like that, Dez guessed.)

Mick grunted, growling at a green leaf, as he smacked it out of his face, shuffling his feet in the dirt as he trudged along. He reminded Deserey a bit of a child whining out of boredom. "I hate nature," the arsonist complained, only to have Rip hold out his hand and shush him repeatedly.

Deserey paused, her hand falling to her sand bag, heart picking up pace. She looked around, trying to spot whatever Rip had heard, but she couldn't see anything. Dez's stomach took another go at that game of Twister. All she could think, as they slowly made their way around a large tree trunk, was that Chronos would be waiting for them behind that tree, blaster at the ready. And then…

Deserey jumped, seeing a red flash of light that wasn't really there. Mick and Rip glanced at her, and her face grew hotter. "I thought I saw a spider," she lied.

"You afraid of spiders, Sandy?" Mick teased.

Dez rolled her eyes. "Of course not. I love spiders. That was a jump for joy."

Rip ignored the conversation all together. He took the little gadget they'd been tracking the anomaly on from his trench coat. "Thirty meters," he announced.

Deserey gave him a look. She'd never been that great a math in high school. (Or college for that matter, but that was besides the point.) "Translate to American, please?"

Rip scoffed and muttering something under his breath. Deserey wasn't sure she'd heard him exactly right, but it sounded something like, "Yanks…" She was pretty sure it must have been an insult.

Before the captain could answer the question, though, Mick spoke up, surprising the other two. "It's ninety-eight feet." He stopped when he realized Dez and Rip were staring at him. "…What?"

"…I didn't know you knew math," Rip admitted. Mick rolled his eyes, but he didn't say anything about it, as they continued walking. "Chronos must be hiding in the trees," Rip said, glancing upwards. Mick and Dez followed his lead, cranking their necks upwards; Dez's curly fry stomach bounced a bit in her guts. She could just see Chronos pouncing down on top of her, waving that gun of his around like some wild animal…

A twig cracked near by. Dez spotted movement. She reacted without thinking, sending a blast of sand in that direction. A loud, "Omph!" emited from the bushes, and a man stumbled out from them. The man wasn't Chronos…

The man hissed in pain, clawing at his eyes desperately trying to get the sand out. Mick raised his gun, charging it up as soon as his glare landed on the poor blinded man. Deserey took a hesitant step back, worried she might get caught in the crossfire, only Rip jumped forward. He pushed Mick's arm down before he even pulled the trigger.

The man blinked rapidly, rubbing his now watering eyes. He cringed, but Dez had to give him credit for not screaming his ass off. Taking a fist full of sand to the eye stung like a bitch. (She would know. It had happened to her plenty of times when she was trying to relax on the beach.) The guy sort of reminded Deserey of a Sith Lord, and she vaguely wondered how much the Time Masters (because that must have been what he was) based their organization off the _Star Wars_ saga.

He was a white man with a long, dark robe that blended in with the shadows surrounding them, making it look like he was just a head floating in the center of darkness. His head was round, and his nose stuck out a little. (Dez thought he could poke someone's eye out with it if he wanted to.) Through the darkness she couldn't get a good look at what color his hair was – if she had to guess maybe a sandy blonde? – but somehow she could make his eyes out perfectly.

They were soft, vibrant blue, radiating warmth and kindness… Except it wasn't in the same way Ray's did. Ray was practically the embodiment of happiness. His eyes were the very definition of caring. They'd always reminded Dez of the beach house she and Darryl use to rent when the kids were younger; it was this cozy little cottage, not much to look at, but it had always made her feel safe and loved. One of the few pleasant memories she'd let slip her mind as of late… Ray was that beach house.

This man…Deserey couldn't put her finger on it, but something about him unnerved her. He looked nice on the surface, but for some reason Dez got the feeling that wouldn't be the case if they dug a little deeper. He wasn't a beach house. He was the opposite. He was that old shack Dez use to hide in when she was living on the streets. That old, torn mat that was infested with gnats that she had no choice but to sleep on. Nothing but angst and anger and hurt.

With a start Deserey realized he shared her father's eyes. Not Ray's. Kind and genuine so long as you acted as he wanted you to. Her heart sank to the bottom of that ocean that had started filling her chest the night Rip recruited the team.

The Time Master glanced right at Rip, having got most of the sand out of his eyes by now. He completely ignored Deserey and Mick's presence. "Is that any way to treat an old friend?"

"Time Master Druce," Rip said, looking a bit stunned to see him. "How on Earth did you find me?" Deserey couldn't tell if he sounded more nervous or happy to see this Druce character. She wasn't sure which response she was more afraid of either, because either way it meant trouble, didn't it?

Druce's lips quirked upwards in a small smirk that sort of reminded Dez of Leonard when he was misbehaving. "You haven't exactly been subtle."

Rip cringed at his words, and Dez imagined he was probably agreeing with the Time Master. (Not that she could really blame him. They had almost destroyed history numerous times trying to save it, after all.)

Mick made a low, guttural noise in the depths of his throat, sending a rock hard glare Druce's way. "Can I waste this guy?"

To his credit Druce didn't even flinch. He merely quirked an eyebrow upwards, glancing over Mick and Dez like he had only just realized they were there as well. (Though Deserey thought he was just being a dick, because she figured it should have been much more difficult to forget the person who'd tossed sand in your eyes.)

Dez's intestines climbed up to her neck and wrapped around her throat, trying to strangle her. Something about Druce's gaze sent shivers down her spine. She tried to summon the ferocity she had when she'd been arguing with Mick, but all that rage had deflated a while ago; and the best she could muster up was a small huff and a movie reference. "He doesn't like you."

"Oh?" Druce said. His expression was utterly careless, even as Mick's glare intensified, his finger just itching to pull the trigger.

"I don't like you either," Dez said. She put her fists on her hips, hoping she came off more threatening than she felt.

Druce turned back to Rip, letting out an unimpressed sigh. "What a colorful team you've assembled yourself."

Rip ignored the comment, glancing at Mick and Deserey pleadingly. Dez thought he was going to ask them to take the guy out, but instead he said, "Could you give us a moment?"

Dez blinked, letting out a short scoff. "Uh, no?" she said. What the hell was he thinking, asking for alone time with one of the guys who were trying to kill him?

"You said I'd get to use my gun," Mick said. (Dez was fairly sure that was his way of expressing his own concerns.) Rip eyed them, his Parent Look taking form again. Dez glared back at that captain, while Druce stood off to the side with his hands folded neatly in front of him, looking like he had all the time in the world. (As a time traveler, he sort of did.)

Suddenly, Mick relented without question. He powered down the heat gun, placing the thing in its hostler on his belt. With one final growl sent Druce's way, he grabbed Dez's arm, pulling her away from the scene. "C'mon, Sandy."

"Very colorful indeed," Druce muttered, watching them go.

Deserey smacked Mick's hand, but he didn't let go of her. She glared up at him, as he brought her around the nearest tree. "Are we just really gonna –"

"Obviously not. Now, shut up so we can hear!" Mick hissed. He crouched behind the tree's trunk, situating himself just right so that Rip and Druce wouldn't spot him listening in. Deserey nodded and followed his lead. She got down on her knees, moving to the opposite side of the tree he was, leaning forward. It occurred to her, belatedly, that this was the second time she was spying on someone during a private conversation. Dez quickly shook thought away.

She could just barely make out Rip and Druce's forms from where she was, the bushes blocking her view slightly; their voices were faint, but she could still make out their words.

Rip had shoved his hands deep into his pockets again, shifting his weight from foot to foot. "I thought you were –"

"Chronos?" Druce guessed. He looked down, like he actually felt bad for what he had to say. "He was killed in the crash, I'm afraid." It was utter bullshit. Deserey wasn't sure how she knew. Maybe she was nearly as good as spotting a lie as Leonard was. Or maybe she was just biased, because this man reminded her so much of her dad…

 _Shut up,_ Deserey scolded herself. _That_ _doesn't matter anymore._

Druce stepped closer to Rip, moving in quick, swift motions that made Deserey's heart pound against her rib cage each time his feet touched the ground. "I was sent to scuttle his time ship, lest it be discovered by the Soviets." Dez heard Mick grunt from behind her, so she figured he must have spotted his bluff too.

"And you left a temporal anomaly." Deserey couldn't tell, but she didn't think Rip was catching on to Druce's lies, which really worried her. But the Waverider's captain wasn't meeting the Time Master's eyes, so she still held out hope.

"To lure you out of the cold, as it were," Druce admitted. "You've turned your back on the very institution you were meant to serve." Something about his word choice bugged her. Something about the way he'd said _meant_ , as if Rip's sole purpose for existing was to please him and his Time Master buddies.

"Our job is to protect time," Druce went on, "thereby protecting all life." It sounded similar to something Rip had said earlier on their travelings together, and with a start Deserey realized this was the guy he'd learned it all from. That did not bode well…

"I am trying to save the world from complete destruction," Rip defended, taking a step closer to the Time Master. Deserey sighed in relief, at least for the moment.

Rip stepped around Deuce, forcing the Time Master to turn as well. For a brief second both their backs were turned to Mick and Dez. The two started to walk away, their voices getting softer as the left. Mick nudged Dez, gesturing for her to follow them and keep quiet. (Not that she needed to be told to do any of that )

Dez and Mick walked in a crouching potion a few paces behind Rip and Druce. She felt like they were making a lot of noise, but neither of the two men seemed to notice.

Druce sighed, as though his lectures weighed heavily on his heart. He shook his head, glancing at the forest floor, as if Rip was the biggest disappointment in his life right now. "You and your band of rogues have run rampant throughout history. This is why we work alone, Rip. A team is a liability; you've proved that."

Rip walked a little further, even as Druce came to a halt. (Deserey was so distracted by the conversation and trying to keep quiet that she had almost walked right out of her hiding place; Mick had to grab her arm and yank her back.) From the new angle Dez could see the side of Deuce's face, but Rip's back was turned. (She imagined his face was pretty distraught.)

"They keep you from making the tough choices," Druce said.

Rip whipped around suddenly, and Deserey could tell he was getting a bit agitated from the look in his eyes. "I am here because the council refused to make that tough choice."

"This doesn't make any sense," Deserey whispered from her hiding place. "Why is this guy showing up now? I'm guessing he doesn't wanna help us."

"Time Cop's offering the Englishman a deal," Mick said quietly. "He turns himself in, we'll go back to 2016. But they'll probably just kill us all instead."

"How can you tell?" Dez asked. He didn't answer. When she glanced at him, he wouldn't meet her eyes, just staring intently at the scene before them. She shrugged it off, figuring it must have been some kind of crooks' intuition or something. Dez turned back to the conversation.

Druce flashed Rip a tight smile that might have been fatherly coming from any other man, and Dez knew Rip was in trouble. "Well, sometimes, they can be slow to realize the obvious, but I've been authorized to offer you a deal."

Dez glanced back at Mick, eyes wide. This time he looked over and gave her a short nod, like: _See? Told ya so!_

"End this foolish crusade; return with me to the Vanishing Point," Druce said. Deserey wasn't sure what 'the Vanishing Point' was, but it didn't sound very fun. She hoped they wouldn't have to go there any time soon…

"You'll be acquitted of all charges, and in…" Deuce hesitated a moment, mentally working some math, "a few hundred years, we may be able to fix the damage you've caused."

That was enough to ignite the rage Dez had been looking for earlier. (It annoyed her a little that it hadn't shown up until now.) For one thing, the deal seemed pretty one sided. The Time Masters got everything they wanted, while Rip and the team got squat. The other thing that pissed her off was the way this guy said 'damage you've caused.'

As far as Dez could tell, Rip hadn't actually done any real harm to the time line. All he'd done was try to save his family. That was it. Any issues had been caused by Deserey and the others. They were the screw ups that history would be better off without. Not Rip. Even at that, she was sure that the team had gone back and fixed all the mistakes they'd made. They had gotten that piece of Ray's suit back when he'd accidentally lost it in the '70s, they'd put Stein's personal life back on track after young Marty followed them back to the ship, they had even taken care of that monster issue in the '50s. So, what the hell could Druce possibly be talking about?

Deserey heard another guttural noise. She had assumed it had been Mick again, but when he glanced at her with a mildly concerned look, she realized it had been her. Dez had her fist clenched at her sides, her whole body trembling. She didn't realize it until several hours later, but she was crying too. Dez grit her teeth, feeling like she was about to crack them. It was a bit like how she imagined David Banner (Bruce Banner in the MCU) got before he turned into the Incredible Hulk.

Only instead of green, she was turning red. Not just in her physical appearance either, in her vision too. Like a wave of blood had washed over her, everything in her line of sight had gained a red film over it. It was blinding.

"Damn, and they call me the hot head." Mick rolled his eyes. Dez glared at him, but she didn't care enough to respond to the pointless banter. It was all she could do not to jump out of their hiding place and beat Druce to a pulp.

"And what about my team?" Rip asked, seemingly unaware of Deserey or Mick's presence despite all the noise they had been making a few moments ago.

"They'll be returned to their own time lines, unharmed," Druce said, apparently not noticing either of their stalkers either. Druce sighed, giving Rip that fony dad look again, which just made Dez want to knock his teeth out even more. "You were one of my brightest pupils…and by far my favorite. Will you at least consider my offer?"

"…I'll consult with my comrades," Rip said.

"Please do, Rip," Druce said, almost sounding sincere, "and then meet me here in an hour." The Time Master stepped around Rip, stalking off, like he had already won. Rip, of course, turned his head, asking the question anyone would ask in his shoes, "And if I don't?"

"Then, you're beyond my help." Druce stopped in his tracks, turning to give Rip these big sad eyes, like it hurt him to even suggest anything of the sort; but Deserey knew better. He didn't really mean any of that sappy crap he'd said to Rip. He didn't mean a word, and he sure as hell wasn't planning on keeping his deal. He didn't care about any of them, least of all Rip. Everything he said was a lie. Manipulation. Games. Everything he'd done it was to shape him into some damn puppet that he could manipulate.

She wasn't sure when, but at some point the lines blurred together. Her rage wasn't directed at Druce anymore, it was directed at her father. And it wasn't about Rip…It was about her.

Dez's nails were digging into her palms, and she thought maybe she might try to make them bleed, just to trade the anger in for pain, because somehow that was a lot easier to deal with. She probably would have done it, but Mick grabbed her shoulder and pulled her backwards. Dez glared at him, when she fell on her ass. He ignored her, reaching into his coat pocket and bringing out a small, silver lighter.

Mick tossed it to her, and Dez fumbled it. "Use that," he said.

She scoffed. "What the fuck am I gonna do with this? Burn myself? That's so fucking helpful, thanks." What the hell was wrong with him? Wasn't he supposed to be apart of that stupid suicide watch they'd put together for her? Yet here he was, giving Dez the perfect way to harm herself when she was feeling the need for it the most.

Mick glared at her, like he thought she was stupid. (Which he did, since he had said as much during their shouting match.) "No. Just look at it. The fire."

"Why the hell –"

"Just do it. Quit acting like a bitch."

Dez rolled her eyes, but she did what he asked. She hadn't held a lighter since she'd smoked that one cigarette at a party just to piss her dad off, so it took a moment for her to figure out how to turn the damn thing on – which was frustrating as hell – but once she'd gotten it, it was obvious why Mick had wanted her to look at it.

She wasn't a pyromaniac by any means of the word, but the flames – though small – were actually really beautiful, calming even. The red film slipped away, replaced by the dull orange of the flame. For a while, that was all she seen. The little baby fire flickered in the wind, almost like it was waving at her; and she imagined it was a small child, playing tag with its siblings on the beach… Laughing, smiling…just love and safety…and warmth.

Deserey blinked after a minute – or was it two? She looked up at Mick, who was watching her intently. "Better?" he asked in a voice that didn't really sound like his. She nodded. "Good." He took it back, staring at the baby flame himself, now.

Dez took a shaky breath, running her hand through her hair. "Uh, thanks…I guess." Mick grunted but didn't say anything. Absently, Deserey wondered where Rip was…

She was about to ask Mick if she'd seen him leave, when the Captain approached. "That's a pretty sweet deal Time Cop gave you," Mick said without looking up from the lighter. His voice sounded like his own again.

Rip made an annoyed sound, though he didn't seem surprised. "I see we can add 'eavesdropping' to your criminal résumé."

 _Not that you can judge_ , Deserey though, guilty thinking of the scene they'd watched of Len and his younger self.

"Maybe you should start thinking like a crook," Mick said. He flicked the lighter shut, rising to his feet. "Your friend's planning on killing you."

"Time Master Druce is one of my most trusted friends; besides if he wanted to do me any harm, why didn't he do it just now when he had the chance?" Rip said, somehow still believing any of the Time Masters could actually be on his side. It sort of hurt to watch…

Deserey jumped to her feet, clasping her hands together. She took a deep breath, trying to stop the rage from surfacing again. "They sent a mother fucking assassin after you, Rip!"

Rip hesitated, and Dez was tempted to smack him, especially when he mumbled, "Almost forgot about that…"

"He wants you to bring the whole team with you," Mick said, like Dez hadn't interrupted him. "And that's not gonna happen. Because I'm taking a pass, and I'm guessing Snart will too, when he finds out about this."

The arsonist stalked off, leaving Rip and Dez behind. Rip sighed. Deserey could tell he was torn. He wanted to believe the best in his friend – because how could someone you thought cared about you hurt you so bad? – but he also knew, deep down, that she and Mick were right. Druce wasn't his friend any more.

Deserey let out a heavy breath from her nose. She closed her eyes for a moment, focusing on the wind blowing through her hair, pretending it was the humid air of the beach; she moved her toes around in her shoes, make believing her feet were bare and that the dirt was sand. (Her therapist had told her once that this would help calm her nerves, since the beach was – apparently – her happy place, but it never really worked how it was suppose to. Maybe she was just doing that wrong too…) Then, she opened her eyes and barely looked the captain in the eyes. "…I'm sorry, Rip."

He frowned. "For what?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I just feel…something." It was stupid, but the truth was she didn't even know what she felt in that moment. She'd been ready to murder Druce for merely insulting their team…and now? Now she was just empty. She was a hollowed box with nothing inside but darkness and empty space.

Rip nodded slowly. He opened his mouth to say something – maybe he had figured out what was wrong with Dez and had devised away to fix her, because dads were that way weren't they? (Even the ones who kicked their daughters out because she didn't end up quite the way he wanted her to be or the ones who hurt their sons because they didn't listen quite the way they wanted them to.) They just somehow figured out the problem without you saying a single word, and they fixed it. Just like that…

But Rip didn't have some magical solution to get rid of whatever it was Deserey felt. All he said was, "We should follow Mr. Rory…"

Dez tried to hide the look of disappointment on her face, but he probably seen it anyway. She nodded slowly, dragging her feet as she trailed after the arsonist.

* * *

Me: Updates will be slow!

Also me: Updates twice in the same day

I just needed a distraction from my issues so here we are

(I've also low key been excited for this bit so...)

I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter Next we're gonna follow, Ray, Carter, and Lenny with Vostok because I've got something a bit...extra for that scene planned. Mwhaha!


	30. White Knight, Explosion, & Comtemplation

The Bolshoi Theater was an extravagant, well structured building made entirely from glowing, white marble, dark oak doors lining the front entrance. A small crowd had formed in front of the doors, idly chatting amongst themselves, as the play came to an intermission.

Carter, Ray, and Leonard hid themselves amongst them, searching for Vostok. They each wore similar tuxedos. It wasn't something Carter would have worn on his own accord. The fabric was made entirely from wool, he guessed, and it was far too itchy. (At least it fared against the harsh, cold wind, he supposed.)

A woman walked out of the theater, following behind a young couple who were walking arm and arm. The woman was dressed in a long, backless red gown with a low V neck that showed off her cleavage; the gown fit her form very well, accenting all the curves of her body as she absently strutted down the red carpet in front of the theater, like she was some sort of super star. A diamond necklace hung around her neck, the jewels sparkling as the lights caught against them.

Her hair was done up in a firm bun, leaving small, twisting strands to fall at her cheeks, which were rosy with blush makeup; and her eyes, covered in dark eye shadow, were downcast, as she fiddled with her theater ticket and play pamphlet before placing the items in the hand bag she swung on her wrist.

Even without the fancy get up, it would have been easy to spot her. This was the woman of the hour. Valentina Vostok. The scientist walked right past the three men, taking a cigarette from her purse as she went by. Evidently, she had no idea three men were watching her from afar. (Which sounded extremely creepy out of context, Carter realized.)

"We've got eyes on Vostok," Leonard said into the comms.

Stein, who was working the comms back on the Waverider, since apparently Rip had run off on a little adventure of his own by the time Carter and the others were ready to go, replied with, " _Everything looks good on my end, gentle men. I'd say it's safe for you to proceed."_

Leonard glanced at Ray, letting a small smirk form on his face. "You heard the professor. You're up, lover boy!" With that, he shoved Ray forward, sending him stumbling right into Vostok. She jumped, turning and glaring at poor Ray, who just grinned awkwardly back at her, muttering apologizes.

Leonard snorted. "This is going to be a disaster." Carter thought he looked a bit too happy about that. And when he questioned the thief about it, he just said, "Other people's failure is hilarious."

Ray sighed from where he and Vostok stood. "Miss Vostok." He held his hand out to her, flashing her a friendly smile to which she only looked vaguely interested in. "Simon Huntsberger, university of Moscow in the physics department." Carter wasn't sure where he'd gotten the fake name from, and he was questioning the reason for even needing one, but he figured it probably didn't matter.

Vostok took a long drag from her cigarette, eyeing Ray like he was a can full of garbage that someone had left out for too long, and Ray lowered his hand awkwardly. "I'm not interested in talking to students." Her voice carried a thick, Russian accent – obviously – and she was speaking English, thanks to those ingestible translators Rip had given everyone. (Though to her it probably sounded as though Ray were speaking her native langue.) "If you want lecture, come by office hours."

She started to turn away, but Ray stopped her before she went anywhere. "Actually, I'm a fellow scientist. I read your paper on applied physics and nuclear fission. Perhaps, if you allowed me to take you to dinner, we can discuss in detail."

Vostok rolled her eyes, swiftly turning on her heeled feet and strutting away smoothly without another word. Carter cringed. What an awkward exchange…

Leonard grinned, as if that whole scene had been the highlight of his day. He walked out to a confused looking Ray, leaving Carter no choice but to follow. "Damn, that was cold," Leonard teased Ray. "Even by a Russians' standards."

"You say that like you can do better," Carter said. He and Ray hadn't really talked much, and they were hardly friends (in fact, Carter had barely spoken to anyone one besides Kendra and Deserey, briefly) but Leonard was sort of being a jack ass; and it was kind of annoying.

Leonard shrugged, not even seeming remotely offended by Carter's comment. "Probably. I am a honeypot expert, after all."

Carter scoffed and rolled his eyes. Apparently, that meant Leonard had to prove his point, because he said, "It's easy, since almost everyone wants in my pants. Even everyone on the ship…Except Rip, because he's pining after a dead girl. And you." He nodded at Carter. "'Cause you've got that whole soul mate thing." He glanced at Ray. "And you since you want in…" Leonard trailed off, apparently thinking better of whatever he was going to say. "Someone else's pants."

Ray spluttered awkwardly. "I – wha? I…have no idea what you're talking about. We came on the Waverider for a mission, not to –"

"Whatever you say, Raymond." From the way the thief was smirking, Carter guessed he was just saying things to get to him now. What was his deal with Ray anyway?

Carter rolled his eyes, mumbling, "Why did I agree to do this one?" Of course, he knew the answer to that, so asking was a bit redundant. Carter had overheard Deserey and Kendra talking in the galley, over hearing something he probably shouldn't have, something Kendra had never told him about…Carter wanted to get off the ship, to think it over and decide what he should do about it. He turned to the other two and said, "Look, can someone just go get Vostok so we can leave already?"

Leonard huffed, forming an exaggerated salute, his words dripping with sarcasm. "Sure thing, Princey."

Ray jumped, and at first Carter thought something had startled him, but then he broke out into a huge grin. "That's a Sanders Sides reference, and you won't convince me other wise. I'm telling Dez you watched it!" Without another word, Ray skipped off after Vostok. Leonard scrunched up his face, like he was some gross junk on the bottom of his shoe, but he followed him. Carter sighed, moving into the shadows again to watch the god awful scene unfold.

Ray approached Vostok, smiling kindly, even though she'd made it clear earlier that 'kind' wasn't her sort of man. "I think we may have gotten off on the wrong foot. I don't mean to bother you –"

"Too late," she hissed.

"—But, as an inventor, I'm in a position to fund your research. That's why I wanted us to meet."

Vostok eyed Ray up and down, like maybe she was trying to decide whether or not she could take him. (Carter guessed she probably could, considering Ray was the least likely of the three of them to hit her back.)

Leonard was just a few feet away, suddenly looking much more serious than he'd been moments before. Apparently play time was over. "Easy, Raymond, you're gonna spook her."

Ray went on, blatantly ignoring Snart. He kept his focus on Vostok. "I think it's important to know who's funding your research, don't you?" Carter cringed again. Ray was not doing well at all. He sounded suspicious, if not like some creepy stalker. But Ray was determined to learn what she knew, so he kept going, probably not even realizing he was completely blowing it. "For instance…Project Svarog."

Carter made his way over to Snart as calmly as he could without raising suspicion to himself. Leonard was leaning against the wall, watching Ray with a look of disapproval. Carter stood next to him, speaking quietly, hoping that Ray couldn't hear through the comms, lest his words offended him. "Yeah, maybe you were right. You should jump in there…"

"Clearly." He stalked off, heading straight for Vostok and Ray. Coming up behind her, Leonard gently tapped Vostok on the shoulder. "Sorry, is this man bothering you?"

Vostok snorted. "Don't trouble yourself. I'm not a damsel in distress." But she let Snart lead her away. She even let him drape his coat over her shoulders when he offered it to her.

"Good," he said, looking her right in the eyes. "Because I'm not a White Knight." Something about that line must have been attractive to her, because she was looking at Leonard like she wanted to jump on top of him and rip his clothes off.

They both glanced upwards, as the bells chimed, signaling the end of intermission. Vostok smiled lightly at Snart, batting her eyelashes. "Seems intermission is over."

Leonard returned the expression, which was kind of weird since Carter knew it was fake, especially since it looked so real. "Wouldn't want to miss Queen Nisia dancing naked with the nymphs."

Vostok glanced Leonard up and down, but unlike the way she'd been eyeing Ray, this looked more like she was wondering what the thief looked like under all those thick layers of clothes. "My favorite part of the ballet, but I've seen it so many times. Perhaps, you wouldn't mind walking me home instead?"

Snart nodded for her to follow, taking her hand as the two began walking off. Ray watched them, tilting his head off to the side, only looking offended for a moment before wondering out loud, "Uh, should we follow them?"

Carter shook his head, because something else had caught his eye from across the street – a big, burly man dressed in thick, metal armor, just beyond the Bolshoi Theater. "We've got other problems."

Ray followed his gaze, his grin turning into a worried frown. "Chronos."

* * *

Ray started running at the time hunter, causing more than a few people to stare at him with wide eyes. Carter blanched. "What are you – Argh!" He ran after Ray. "You do know that you're charging at the guy who wants to kill us, right?"

Chronos disappeared around the corner, as the two of them approached. Ray stopped abruptly, almost making Carter run into him, as he searched for a way to cut Chronos off. "Oh, come on. What's a little life threatening situation for someone who's reincarnated hundreds of times?"

Carter rolled his eyes. "It's not as cool as it sounds! It's actually very annoying, and I'm not really dying to, you know, die, so…"

"I think I can reason with him," Ray said, ignoring what Carter had just said.

Carter sighed. "Of course you do…" Even if he hadn't spoken to him much, it was pretty obvious that Ray was the kind of guy who would throw himself off a bridge if it meant it would help someone else, even if they were a murderous psycho who had been sent to kill him and his friends, like Chronos.

"No, I mean…" Ray turned around to face Carter, an odd look in his eyes that the Egyptian Prince couldn't quite place. "Back in the fifties, before you, Kendra, and Jax showed up, I think I almost got through to him. If we can just get close to him, I can probably do it again."

"Probably," Carter said slowly, "meaning you don't know."

Ray shrugged. He started moving again, walking this time with that big, happy grin that rarely ever left his face. "Admittedly, I'm not entirely sure….But I'm pretty sure!"

"…Ray, he was sent to kill us."

"He doesn't want to, though."

Carter shook his head, as they passed by a group of Russians hanging around outside one apartment building, a few vehicles passing them by on the road. "If he told you that, he was probably lying."

"Eh…He didn't exactly tell me that," Ray admitted. He stuffed his hands into his coat pockets, shivering at the cold of the night. "But I could tell he didn't want to."

"Seriously?" Carter sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly. How did he get stuck with the job of explaining murderers to Ray? "He's a bounty hunter. A hitman. An assassin. Whatever you want to call it. He gets paid to kill people, so of course he wants to kill us!"

"Then, why did he run away from us just now?" Ray looked back at Carter, reminding him of a small child. A brief memory flashed in his head at that thought: Aldus as a young boy, playing in their front yard, before Savage had found them. That hurt…

Carter glanced away, huffing slightly. "He's probably leading us into a trap." It had happened enough times with Savage, anyway. He couldn't count how many times he or Kendra or even both of them had been tricked by Hath-Set, letting him lure them out with fake peace offerings or flattery. Once, he remembered, Savage had even tricked him by pretending they were old friends. (It had been before Carter remembered anything from his previous lives, and he was ready to believe anything anyone told him.) Carter had ended up dead not even thirty minutes after coming into contact with him.

He shuddered at the memory, but Ray didn't question it, probably thinking that it had just been about the cold. "I don't think so. Oh, there he is!" He took off at a sprint again. Carter shouted after him, "Raymond Palmer, if I get murdered because of you –"

"We're not going to get murdered!" Ray called over his shoulder.

"—I'm going to be very pissed at you for the rest of however many lives I end up having!" Carter finished. Ray ignored him of course. He groaned, hesitating a moment before running after the Atom.

* * *

Chronos ended up leading them deep into the woods. It was just the kind of place stupid people in horror movies would run in to right before they died. Shadows cast every which way so that you couldn't see even an inch in front of you, setting a person up for that cliché scene in which they tripped over some unknown item (probably a stick or something in this case.)

The tree limbs formed eerie figures in the darkness, tricking Carter's mind every now and again, making him think it was Savage or Chronos about to jump them. The chill of the night did little to calm his nerves.

Carter glanced around in all directions, but he couldn't see any sign of the robo themed killer besides what his imagination dreamt up. He let out a long, heavy sigh, the cold turning his breath an icy white color. "Okay, no sign of him. Can we just go now? There's no reason to antagonize him, if he's not planning on killing us right now."

Ray didn't turn around. He must have been freezing too, because he was walking stiffly and his hands were buried deep in his pockets. But he was still grinning like they weren't in the middle of the Cold War and there weren't about a million people out to get them. "If you want to go back you can, but I'm going to try to talk to him."

Carter hesitated. Ray sounded like he wouldn't be offended if he left. In fact, it almost seemed like he _wanted_ him to leave, and Carter would be lying if he said he wasn't tempted. But he didn't really want to have everyone blaming him if Ray went and got himself killed over some insane delusion that he could somehow talk Chronos out of being homicidal. (Especially, considering it would kind of be his fault if he left.) "What are you going to do if you don't get through to him?"

"Uh, well if I can't I'd be dead so…"

"That's my point."

Ray stopped walking for a brief moment to push back an over grown bush Carter hadn't seen before – he probably would have walked right into it if Ray hadn't spotted it first – and stepped around it. He even held it back while Carter stepped around it too. Carter wondered how he seemed so in tune with the woods, like he had spent so much time camping or something. Ray didn't exactly seem like the out doorsy type. "For someone who's died multiple times, you seem very weary of it."

Carter couldn't help but to roll his eyes at that. "Well, yeah. It's not exactly fun."

Ray glanced at him, as they continued walking. "Yeah, yeah, I know. But, I mean, I figured you would be use to it by now."

"…Not really something you get use to, Ray."

"Oh." He must have sensed that he'd offended him, because Ray went quiet for several paces. Then, of course he started talking again. "What's it like anyways? The whole reincarnation thing. How does it work? Like are you literally reborn every time, like as a baby? Do you have different parents each time? Or do you get brought back like you are now with just a different set of memories? Do you have a different personality each time or…?"

"Well, in three-hundred-six lives I've been a yoga instructor, a veterinarian, a real estate agent…But I've never been a scientist so if you're asking about the science behind it all I have no idea, but…" Carter sighed again, watching his frozen breath float away. With everything going on with Savage and Kendra and this mission, this was the last thing he wanted to talk about. But he figured Ray wasn't going to stop asking questions until he got some answers, so he told him about it anyway, answering the questions in order. "Are we reborn every time? No. Do we have different parents each time? Most of the time, yes. Sometimes, we just come back as we are with different memories. It depends. Our personalities are usually the same, though."

He took a moment to breath, feeling the weight of that info dump. Then, he went on, "And as for what it's like… You ever have an identity crisis? It's kinda like that, but never ending. Kendra and I have had so many lives, it gets hard to tell them apart sometimes. We're always trying to figure out who we'll be in the next life, so we never really get to figure out who we are in this one."

Ray nodded, ducking under a low hanging tree limb. He stayed silent, as he processed that information, so Carter went on. "People like you only get one life, so you know who you are. And you only get one chance to live, so you do. You only have to wear one hat, so to speak."

"Eh…not all the time." Ray shrugged when Carter gave him a questioning glance. "Some people go their whole lives without figuring out who they are. Then, they die without ever really knowing. I guess, you and Kendra just sort of have an extended period of time to figure it out."

"Well, it's exhausting," Carter said. He cringed, realizing this conversation had somehow turned into him complaining about his life…lives. Whatever. (He'd been doing a lot of cringing that night.) "Anyway, I thought you said you saw Chronos. Where is he?"

"Uh…" Ray didn't get much more than that out before something exploded beneath their feet, sending the two men flying in opposite directions. Carter tried to summon his wings to avoid slamming into anything unnecessarily, but his head had gone fuzzy, the world becoming static like that of an old tv set. There was a light but irritating buzz in his ears. He couldn't focus. Carter smacked into a tree trunk, the world going dark around him.

* * *

When Deserey, Rip, and Mick got back to the Waverider, they found Stein and Jax in the bridge. The professor was working the coms for Len, Ray, and Carter. Though presently they were turned off, as the two halves of Firestorm were chatting, as though they hadn't been arguing a few hours ago.

Stein glanced up when he spotted them enter. "Ah, Captain Hunter. How was the mission?" When neither of the three parties for said mission responded, he exchanged looks with Jax.

"…We should probably talk," Rip told them. Mick grumpily stalked off, leaving Rip alone with Deserey and the two halves of Firestorm. The five of them slipped into the parlour, where Rip sipped on a cup of whiskey while he told them of the deal his Time Master friend had offered him. (Yes, it had been that kind of day. The others would have joined in, except the two halves of Firestorm were processing the information, and Deserey was still very much a light weight.)

Jax paced around the room for several consecutive minutes, before finally coming to a stop by one of the shelves. "So, uh, what happens? You hand over the ship and turn yourself in to the Time Masters, and the rest of us just –"

"You'll be returned to your former lives in January 2016," Rip interrupted. "It'll be as if you never left."

Stein spoke up from where he had placed himself in one of the arm chairs, silently thinking over what the captain had just told him. "Aside from the fact that Starling City might be part of the USSR, thanks to our efforts."

Deserey nodded in agreement, leaning on the desk in the back of the room. "Yeah, and I don't know about you guys, but after all this I'm not sure I want to go back to 2016. I mean…maybe to see my kids but…" She shrugged, letting the rest of the thought hang in the air. Her life hadn't been very glamorous. She'd even been about to kill herself; and she probably would have done so if Rip hadn't stopped her.

Rip hesitated. He responded to Stein, letting Deserey's comment float into the abyss of forgotten words. She tried hard not to be offended by that. "The fact that we may ruin Star City's future is all the more reason to consider the offer. The Time Council will do everything in their power to correct the mistakes we've made…"

Deserey scoffed. She wasn't convinced they had done anything wrong that they hadn't already fixed themselves. The so called Time Council didn't need to do anything, Rip was just using Druce's words. Belatedly, she wondered if any of his words had really been his own before Savage. Maybe that was one good thing about all he'd done, he'd allowed Rip the ability to think for himself. She didn't say any of this out loud of course. That would have been ludicrous.

Jax crossed the room again, coming to a stop next to Deserey. He folded his arms over his chest, eyeing Rip like maybe he was thinking something along the same lines as Deserey was. "But they still haven't changed their minds about stopping Savage?"

Rip shrugged, not looking any of them directly in the eyes. "Well, according to them, he's part of the natural course of history, terrible has that course may be."

Jax jerked his head to the side, screwing up his a face that made his opinion on this 'council' very clear. Deserey shared his sentiments. Rip glanced at the other three in the room, hesitating with his next words. Deserey thought maybe he even agreed with them, but there was something there, blocking him, keeping him from admitting that this was a terrible, terrible idea. "Look, I'm not saying that this offer is without its downsides. If we abandon our plan now, then I still lose my wife and son."

"So, why throw in the towel?" Jax asked. "I thought you said this mission was bigger than any one of us."

Rip sighed, looking torn. "Yes, but if you'll remember, when I recruited you, I wasn't being entirely forthright about my motivations or about how dangerous this mission would be."

Deserey huffed, rising to her feet. "Well, I think we've all made it pretty clear that we're not going anywhere. You wanted a team, so you got one." She wasn't sure where the words were coming from. Dez still felt like an incompetent loser, and she still wasn't entirely sure they could pull this mission off…

But she didn't like the way this 'council' was behaving. She didn't like how this Druce guy had shown up out of the blue and made Rip start questioning everything with just a few words. She didn't like how fishy the Time Masters felt. And she really didn't like the idea of just letting Vandal Savage parade around raping and killing whoever the hell he felt like.

"…They'll have Chronos hold back for the hour," Rip said. "But if we ignore this offer they will send him with even more force than before."

"So, we'll fight him too," Jax shrugged like it was no big deal.

Stein nodded, rising from the chair so that he stood next to Deserey and Jax. "You recruited us to fight for the future, Mr. Hunter. So, that is exactly what we will do."


	31. Interlude 4

****Warning: Mention of suicide attempt, viewer discretion advised. (I know I put a warning at the beginning but still. Better safe than sorry.)****

 ** **Note: Before you ask, yes the people in the second scene of this one are Carter and Kendra in a past life. I thought it would be easier to give them personality if I gave them their own thing. So, I'll occasionally put interlude scenes with them in past lives or even this one before they met.****

* * *

Ralph and Julian had given Anita and Oculus a brief crash course before all but shoving them out of the Flash Museum. (Apparently their mere presence in the place could somehow devastate the future. Anita didn't really see how, but she didn't bother to question it either.) Evidently Cisco Ramon and someone called Barry Allen had been working on a project together, something neither Ralph or Julian had managed to get details on. According to the two older men, the project had gone south rather quickly and someone had attacked Allen and Ramon for whatever they'd been doing. Their attackers had managed to ransack everything in Star Labs, taking everything from Ramon and Allen's project except for Doc, who somehow fit into it all. (Ralph and Julian wouldn't say any specifics, claiming it was dangerous knowledge, but Anita figured they just didn't know themselves.)

Ramon had disappeared after hiding Doc away in that little room they'd found her in (the Time Vault, apparently), running off to another universe entirely. (Anita had taken several minutes to register that news. She had only just come to realize that time travel was real, after all.) Allen had skipped town for awhile, too, but had since returned, as the threat was all over. Ramon, however, appeared to be stuck wherever he had ended up. Julian, Ralph, and their friends had been searching for him for some time, but evidently most of them had given up.

When Anita had inquired about how to old duo knew her mother, all she got in return was some vague story about a 'yearly crossover' whatever that meant. Ralph and Julian sent Doc with Oculus and Anita, thinking that would be safer for the little robo girl somehow. (Anita didn't quite understand their logic behind that one.)

So Oculus brought the two girls back to the Lodge, setting up a room for Doc and Anita, even though Doc probably wouldn't need sleep, being an artificial intelligence and all. Doc wasn't much of a talker, which was pretty weird for a kid, but she and Patch seemed to hit it off great. (Anita suspected it had something to do with the fact that they both had mechanical brains. Or maybe it was just that they shared the same zero-zero, thus making them something like siblings to each other.)

The little group had stayed in the Lodge together for several weeks, finding new and crazy schemes to partake in between their search for Ramon, which was pretty much going no where. Julian and Ralph had stayed at Star Labs, promising to contact them if they found any leads in their own search, though Anita wasn't sure how they'd manage to call, since they hadn't exchanged phone numbers or anything. She got the feeling they were keeping a lot of nitty gritty details to themselves, but Oculus didn't push them for answers so neither did she.

Eventual, after about the third week or so of staying at the Lodge, Oculus decided it was time to take Anita home, despite her protests. He brought her back to 2016, landing in the exact same spot they'd left, right next to the dumpster in that ally. It didn't look any different from how the left it, as if life in Anita's native time period was put on pause until she'd gotten back. She grinned at the thought, wishing things could be like that all the time. There really weren't any repercussions were there? If you were late somewhere, you could just travel back in time and give it another go. If you needed a break, you could run off for as long as you needed, and when you got back nothing will have changed. It seemed perfect to Anita.

She looked around, watching a lady across the street as she walked her dog down the side walk. They hadn't been gone long, maybe a few hours at most. Anita's brother would just be getting out of school, probably riding on that tedious bus they both hated so much because it was far too noisy. She couldn't help snickering at that. Daren would be so annoyed at her for leaving him alone. But when she told him that she had actually been gone three weeks and had been traveling with a man who was almost exactly like the Doctor... No, never mind.

Daren would just ruin it for her. He'd want to come along, too, and he'd just bug her the whole time. (He'd been very annoying since their parents had split up, always begging for attention like some lost puppy.) Besides, that was more than likely the first and last trip she'd ever take through time. Anita didn't need her brother messing it up with a bunch of stupid, annoying questions. It would be best if she just didn't tell him, Anita decided.

Her father would have gotten home from work an hour ago. He wouldn't think anything of Anita not getting off the bus with Daren. They'd both probably just assume that she had stayed after school to work on some student council project or band practice or something. (Anita had signed up for a lot of extra curricular activates, so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch.)

Other than that, there was really only one thing to be concerned about. Anita frowned, squinting at Oculus, as she adjusted her glasses. (They'd gotten a bit crooked as they'd landed.) "What about that meta human that was chasing you? You said you were going to stop him, but you never did."

Oculus flinched, letting out a long, drawn out hiss, as if those word physically pained him somehow. "You're right. I forgot..."

Anita snorted. "You forgot about the dangerous meta human trying to kill you?"

"Well, in my defense it's been several weeks since we've been in this exact time and place," Oculus said. He glanced at his watch, trying to hold back his own laughter. "And it's been a whole three hours, since we were last here. He's probably forgotten all about me, too."

Anita nodded, feeling a few giggles rising up in her belly. "Yeah, or maybe the Flash caught him."

Oculus made a face. "I still don't know who that is."

She stared at him, sure that he was just messing with her at this point. "We were just in a museum dedicated to him and his heroics a few weeks ago." When he shrugged, apparently sticking by his act of ignorance, Anita rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I guess, I'm going home now. Thanks for the time traveling and junk."

He nodded slowly. For a moment, he shifted his weight from foot to foot, frowning as if deep in thought. Then, he broke out into one of those huge, dorky grins. "Well, maybe we'll do it again sometime. Go on a trip, I mean. When I figure out who I am."

Anita blinked, sort of shocked that he would even ask. She'd been sure that this would be the end of their traveling together. "Wait. Really?"

"Yeah, why not?" Oculus said. "It was fun." He made a face. "Oh, but of course next time we'll have to ask your parents. You can't just going running off with strangers, you know."

Anita rolled her eyes. She had already gotten that speech from her parents years ago, so she really didn't need to hear it again now. "Whatever, dude. I'm going home, now. Bye."

"Goodbye, Anita."

* * *

Being a sixteen year old black boy in a vastly white school was a bit of a hazard to say the least, especially in 1945, Landon found. It basically made him stick out like a sore thumb, making him an easy target for prying eyes and gossipers. (Usually racist things he tried not too pay much attention too.) The second world war had just ended, and millions of families, including his own had migrated west, hoping for a new start in the land of opportunity. (Instead, they'd all ended up in the United States.) That would have been bad enough, except whenever he closed his eyes to sleep he had really strange dreams.

Sometimes he'd see himself, albeit much older, dressed like an Egyptian Pharaoh, other times Landon was in the nineteenth century get up or wearing some cheesy fairytale sort of costume. (He was usually always wearing some old fashioned trend, making it look as if he belonged to another time all together. He'd even been a cow boy once.) Sometimes Landon was alone, traveling the world like he had always wanted to do. Other times he was with a woman. But it didn't matter if he was alone or with the girl, he was always on the move. He'd be running frantically, trying to hide from something...or someone. Landon could never remember which it was when he woke up.

The dreams were subliminal messages, he thought, like his subconscious was trying to warn him about something. An impending danger lurking in the shadows, disaster waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. Naturally, that disaster came in the shape of a beautiful girl.

Landon spotted her for the first time when he was on his rounds delivering news papers to the neighborhood. (People would rarely hire blacks, feeling weary of them. Landon had been lucky to find even that.) She was the new girl in town, as he figured from the moving truck just outside her house.

The girl was sitting on her front porch, reading a book, as the movers relocated everything from the truck and into the house and her parents instructed them where to put everything. Her dark brown hair was pulled into a ponytail, curling at the ends. Big, chestnut eyes scanned the book rapidly, her small lips curving into a smirk as she got into whatever she was reading, which, Landon found, made the girl all the more enticing. She had dark skin, too. Really dark. Almost the same color as the bark on the tree outside her house, except a lot smoother and a lot prettier. The girl looked like an angel to Landon, and it was all too easy to imagine a set of brown, feathery wings spring from her back. Even in that less than flattering polka dot dress she was wearing she looked absolutely stunning.

He nervously approached her. For some reason it felt like he wasn't allowed to go anywhere near her, like maybe if he did something bad would happen... Landon eyed the girl cautiously, holding the news paper in his hand. He debated turning and running, but before he could she looked up from her book and smiled at him. "Oh, hello."

Landon stuttered. "Uh, um, hi. I, uh..." He held up the paper, unable to think of the proper word. Her voice...he hadn't really been expecting it to sound so sweet, like honey straight out of the bee hive. Her smile was breath taking, and now that she had those perfect eyes trained on him, Landon felt a bit weak.

It wasn't just her beauty, though that had a great deal to do with it. But it was also the fact that, now that he was seeing her up close, Landon had the strangest sense that he'd seen her somewhere before...

The girl laughed, taking the paper from him and setting it next to her on the porch. "Thanks." Landon nodded, his gut doing flips. It was suddenly very hot, but he thought it would have been improper to take his sweater vest off in front of a lady. The girl tilted her head at him, making a face. "You don't talk much do you?"

"Uh..." Landon said dumbly. She laughed, and he blushed. After a moment, his impulses got the better of him, and he asked, "Sorry, have we met before?"

The girl stared at him like she thought he was an idiot. (He probably was.) "Well," she said. "I just moved here three seconds ago, so probably not. No."

"Right," Landon nodded, shifting uncomfortably. "Yeah. Er...I guess, I should introduce myself, then. I'm Landon. Landon Fox."

She jumped up, viciously shaking his hand in a very un-lady like manner. "Nice to meet you, Landon. Name's Sheila Carr." When the girl let his hand go, Landon took a slight step back. Apparently the girl, Sheila had noticed the action, because she frowned. Evidently she got that reaction from people a lot. He glanced down to where she had gently bent the edge of the page she'd been reading to mark her place in her book. In an effort to lift her spirits, he asked, "What are you reading?" Because he just really couldn't stand to see her sad.

Fortunately, Sheila's eyes lit right up at the question. She looked back at him, her eyes sparkling against the afternoon sunlight. The grin on her face was huge. "It's about Ancient Egypt. It's really neat." She tilted her head to the side, her grin growing even wider. "Did you know they use to suck the mummies' brains out through their noses?"

Landon frowned. "That's...disturbing..."

Sheila nodded, obviously not sharing Landon's unease about the subject. "That's why it's cool." Landon eyed her for a moment, before allowing himself a small grin of his own. This girl wasn't like anyone else he had met in this stupid town. She didn't have good manners, despite wearing the dress. He could already tell she was the kind of person who would rather spend her time climbing mountains or charging through god awful terrain just for the thrill of it. Landon liked that. A lot.

"Can I show you around?" he asked.

Sheila folded her arms over her chest, somehow looking offended by the question. "I don't need an escort."

"Never said you did," Landon shrugged, feeling a bit dumb. "Just thought you'd like a tour, is all. I have a paper route, so I know the neighborhood pretty well, and -"

Sheila snorted. "I'm kidding."

"...Oh."

"Let's go!" She laughed, grabbing his hand and charging down the road like she even knew where she was going.

* * *

He'd tried everything. He really had. But it was useless. They were gone forever. It didn't matter how many times he went back in time, the out come was always the same. Because he couldn't alter history, not really, not without massive repercussions. Rip knew that. He'd always known that. Yet, it didn't stop the truth from stinging him, when he had inevitably failed to save Miranda and Jonas's lives.

He had even gone back further than he had ever dared before, to before that monster had risen to power, before he even had his immortality. Rip had thought killing him would fix everything, and it might have...except he couldn't do it. He'd choked. He'd held a dagger to the monster's throat, but he couldn't bring himself to finish the job. So, instead Rip had spent the next three weeks locked in a cell in Ancient Egypt, until he had managed to escape by seducing the guard with a pen.

And that was it. That was the one and only chance he had to save his wife and son...But he'd been too weak to take it. He'd failed them. And unless the Time Council granted him permission to alter history...No, they'd never do that. Time Masters were meant to protect the time line, not change it to whatever suited their needs.

So, there was only thing left to do. Rip couldn't live without them. He couldn't bare to spend every day of the rest of his life with this emptiness that had settled into his heart, eating away at him like a black hole. And if he couldn't save his family, then at least he could join them.

Rip stood on the ledge of a roof top of some random building he'd selected. The Waverider was parked just a few feet away. (He'd ordered Gideon to fly the ship back to the Vanishing Point so some other Time Master could use it. It wasn't like he'd need it anymore. But Rip reckoned Gideon always was a stubborn AI. Closest thing he'd had to a best friend in years, really.) Below him, the rest of the world was in battle. Vandal Savage and his men were terrorizing the streets, explosions and lasers flying every which way.

Rip hardly registered any of that. His mind was too numb, as if the world were lightyears away and his body was acting on its own accord. His mind had dissipated a long while ago. Rip Hunter was already gone, now it was just time to get rid of the remains.

He closed his eyes, letting out a shaky breath, as he slowly moved his foot closer to the edge. His heart hammered in his chest, anticipation and doubts rising. Rip couldn't help wondering if it would hurt when he fell. Then again, it couldn't hurt any worse than this...

A sudden explosion in the distance startled him, forcing him to open his eyes. Rip took a couple labored breaths, watching as one of Savage's cronies shot an innocent woman down. His heart sank at the sight, his eyes beginning to water. How many other families were torn apart that night? How many husbands had lost their wives? How many fathers had lost their sons?

Guilt pierced his skin like a needle. This was all Rip's fault. He could have stopped it all, if only he had been stronger, better. If only he could have killed him... But no. He'd been weak. And now...

Rip shook the thought away. Maybe he deserved to die. He'd always been a little bastard anyway. He moved his feet closer to the edge, his toes hanging over the ledge now. Rip was ready to lean forward, to allow himself to fall, hoping that if there was anything waiting after death than his wife and child would be there. (And if there wasn't anything...Well, then it would still be better than this hell.) But before he could move another inch, someone shouted, "Stop!"

The voice was distinctly American, female by the sound of it. Rip frowned. He started to move, wanting to see whoever was trying to stop him, but they said, "Don't turn around. It's better for the time line if you don't know who I am." So, he stayed where he was.

Rip heard the person take a few steps closer, even over all the explosions from the ground below shaking and rumbling the building. When the woman, he supposed, spoke next, she sounded as though she were standing right behind him. "Come on. Get down from there..." He felt her wrap her hand around his forearm, tugging gently, until he was forced jump down from the ledge.

His hands were shaking, knees buckling under him. Rip's legs caved under him, his knees slamming into the concrete of the roof top. The war (because that's what it was wasn't it?) below was still raging on, but Rip hardly heard any of it now. It was as if he were underwater, drowning, everything else laying above surface, miles away. "I can't..." The words came out as something more similar to a strangled gasp than a coherent sentence, but somehow the woman understood.

Rip could feel her behind him. Her heard her feet scuffling against the concrete, as she moved to sit as well. She placed a hand on his shoulder, and he tensed slightly, but he didn't have the energy to shake it off. She spoke gently, like she was worried she might scare him away. "I know. I know. Oh, god, I know..."

In the moment, he didn't think to ask _how_ she knew, or even _what_ she knew. He figured she had probably just been through something similar and recognized his grief. (Though the fact that she had said that it would be 'better for the time line' if he didn't know who she was completely slipped his mind, until several hours later.) That theory had been proven incorrect rather quickly. "You can still save them, you know."

Rip frowned. "What?"

"Your family," she said. "It's not too late."

Maybe he should have been more cautious. He should have assumed it was a trap meant to damn him into the darkest pits of Hell... But he didn't care. If there was a chance, even a slim one, that he could bring them back, that he could stop any of this from ever happening... Well, he just had to take it didn't he? History be damned. "How?"

The woman slipped her hand away from him, leaving his shoulder feeling rather cold at the sudden lack of contact, as another explosion boomed in the distance, rattling Rip's ear drums. When she spoke next, her voice was a bit muffled, so Rip got the feeling she must have been looking down. "You can't do it alone. Not this time. You'll need help."

Rip inwardly groaned. Working with others had never been his strong point. Everyone nearly always got irritated with him, claiming he was a dick or a liar. (He was, but that was besides the point.) He usually preferred to work alone. No messy ties or responsibilities that way. But...if that's what it took to get his family back, he would make an exception. He'd do anything to save them. "From who?"

The woman was silent for a brief moment, and Rip could imagine her shrugging. Another explosion, much closer this time, filled the rooftop with a blinding light, and for a moment Rip could see her shadow with his on the concrete. She waited until the booming of the bomb was over and the ringing in their ears settled down. It was odd, feeling so calm about so much destruction around him, but honestly Rip didn't have it in him to react emotionally. Besides, if what this woman was saying was true, then this would never have to happen.

"Someone intuitive, who can make a plan in a matter of seconds. Someone bad ass, who can make tough calls. People who can actually kill Savage. Legends. A team," the woman said, and Rip heard a hint of a smirk. "I'm sure you'll figure it out."

Rip hesitated. He wanted desperately to be able to turn and see who this woman was. Why would her identity jeopardize the time line? It wasn't as though they knew each other, was it? At least, her voice didn't sound familiar. "Why would you tell me any of this?"

She was quite for several minutes, and for a moment Rip worried that she had gone without any sort of explanation. He was about to turn around to check, when she spoke up again. "You saved me first," she said softly. "Just thought I'd return the favor."

"I don't understand," Rip said. His legs were getting tingly, losing circulation after sitting on them for so long. Another blast from an explosion lit up the roof again, casting their shadows across the concrete once more. The woman ignored this, even as it let out an ear piercing crack. When the noise settled he could hear her laughing.

"I guess you never did find out, did you?" she said, like he would know what she meant. "Maybe I'll tell you someday..."

Rip sighed, not really in the mood for any of this. He started to say, "What are you -"

The woman cut him off, probably shaking her head or waving her hand to dismiss his question before he had even asked it. "Never mind. Not important." Rip heard scuffling as the woman shifted her position. "Look, all of this will make sense soon. Just...don't jump, okay? Don't give up. Not yet. There's still a chance. With your team. The Legends."

"Legends?" Rip asked. But before she could respond, he shook his head, deciding on another, more important issue. "If this doesn't work -"

"It will," the woman said.

"But if it doesn't..." Rip shoved the thought away. He didn't want to think about that outcome. He let out another heavy sigh, another explosion drowning the smaller sound out, as it cast yet another light upon the roof. "What about the Time Council? They'll never authorize me to -"

"Guess you'll have to decide what's more important." Rip heard the woman scuffling around once more, as she rose to her feet. "Your family or your crummy job." Rip didn't even have to think about that one. The answer was obvious. "I have to go now. My friends are waiting for me," the woman said. "Good luck."

Rip waited until he heard her footsteps retreat, fading away, as she opened the roof's door and slipped away. Then, he rose to his feet, rubbing his hands over his face and blinking rapidly. He let out another heavy sigh, adjusting his coat. "Well, then, let's give this another go, shall we?" he muttered to himself. The dread was still there, but now he at least had a bit of hope back.

He found his way onto the Waverider, walking to the bridge. Gideon piped up the moment he stepped foot in the room. "Rip. I see you've had a change of heart." She sounded as if she knew he wouldn't have gone through with offing himself. Or maybe it was just that she had been watching as that woman talked him out of it.

Either way, Rip let out a soft chuckle. "Let's just say I've been inspired." He crossed the room, placing himself in the chair at the front of the room. "Take us to the Vanishing Point, Gideon. I'm going to ask the Time Council's permission to alter history, just this once."

The ship didn't immediately move. When Gideon spoke, she sounded rather apprehensive. "The chances of the Council granting you permission are -"

"Slim. I know," Rip sighed. "But I've got to at least try before we go gallivanting off to change history."

"I suppose," Gideon said. "But what will we do if - and by if I mean when - they decline?"

"Well," Rip said, fiddling with the controls on the arm rest of his chair. "We'll do it anyway." Gideon didn't say any more on the matter, as the ship lifted off the roof and into the sky, jumping through the temporal zone, heading for the Vanishing Point.

* * *

Hath-Set, now Dr. Nox, sat in the center of his study, books and relics surrounding him. The room was dark, only being dimly lit by the lamp sitting on the desk. In this era (the year was 1950 something, if he remembered correctly) there was little flare. The furniture was very bland, usually a dull dark leather or a boring floral pattern. Even the people had some how gotten more primitive over the decades, though somehow they mistook all their technological advancements as success, progress.

It was mildly amusing at best. Hath-Set had already lived for thousands of years, watching humanity "grow." He had learned skills that only the privileged got to know, ancient techniques and practices, primarily in the art of combat, lost to the ages. By this time Hath-Set had mastered millions of languages and carried the knowledge of an entire army of men.

Meanwhile, the mortals mocked him with their ignorance. He was disgusted to know that he had ever been one of them. Over the years their societies rose and fell, Hath-Set discretely taking inventory of each one, determining just what had caused them to do so, making notes of all the changes he would make should he ever get the chance to do it better. In recent times, it was easy to figure what would be the fall of this particular civilization.

Their little inventions, cars, telephones, they made the mortals' lives easier, and Hath-Set reckoned that this would only be the begging of the mortals' technological advancements. Still, while the inventions did have their uses, the machines made the mortals lazy, and they would grow lazier and lazier, the more they invented, the easier they made life for themselves. That laziness, along with the pride and arrogance that came with their false sense of accomplishment, would be this society's downfall.

Despicable, really. All the mortals were just that. Despicable, disgusting, meager creatures that were ultimately meaningless in the vast cosmos of the universe. The gods should be ashamed of having ever created them, he thought. Occasionally, if he grew bored enough, Hath-Set took up a female companion, preforming a marital ceremony. (And somehow the mortals had ruined even that. They had started, at some point, calling it 'getting hitched' thoroughly diminishing the ancient ritual.) Hath-Set had one such companion this year, but she, like all the others before her, did not kindle joy. Occasionally, he even thought about killing her, but he had decided not to waste his time with the pathetic woman, to allow fate to take care of her instead.

Only a woman with abilities akin to his own would know how to satisfy his needs, and there was only one of those... Or so he had thought. Earlier that night, he had met Chay-Ara as she and Khufu were moving into the house just down the road from Hath-Set and his mortal prize, as luck would have it. Except, he remembered that he had already killed them both in this life time and absorbed their energy to preserve his own immortality. It was the most curious thing. That was why he was in his study that night, researching, looking for any possible ways that there might have been two Chay-Aras.

And that's when he got a visit from an old friend that he had not seen in centuries. Hath-Set was just beginning to examine an old, Egyptian relic, funnily enough, when he heard his less than ecstatic voice behind him. "So, this is what you choose to do with my gift, is it?"

Hath-Set smirked to himself, setting the relic down on his desk gently before standing and facing the owner of the voice. It was a man. He appeared to be nearing his early thirties, though Hath-Set knew he was much, much older than that. The man wore a thin lion cloth around his waist, kohl lining the outer edges of his eyes. Around his arms, the man wore golden bands, and his chest was bare, as were his feet. In his fist, he clenched a long, silver staff. Hath-Set eyed him, amusement sparking in his eyes. "Horus. I was beginning to think that the Egyptian gods had faded away with those filthy Greeks."

Horus ignored his comment. Instead, he leaned lazily on his staff, glancing around the little hovel of a room with disinterest. He shook his head with disapproval. "I gave you the gift of immortality and what are you doing with it? You repeatedly chase after the same woman time and time again, only to kill her and her lover every time she rejects you." He let out a long, heavy sigh. "Perhaps, it was my fault. I was mistaken to gift you with eternal life. I thought you would do something more...formidable."

Hath-Set glared at the god. All amusement from moments before had vanished completely. He did not like where this conversation was headed. "It sounds as though you mean to take away my immortality." He wasn't sure if that were possible, but this man before him was a god, so he supposed if anyone held the ability to remove his never ending life it would be him.

Horus shrugged carelessly, still leaning on his staff and looking quite bored. "Would you have me let you keep it after you've abused the power so? And I don't just mean wasting it on those other two. I'm talking about all those wars you senselessly started. What do the mortals call it? The World Wars? Fitting, seeing as how it all went down..." Horus shook his head once more, finally standing up right. "Such a shame you didn't do more with it."

Hath-Set watched as the god raised his staff, making like he was going to use its magic on him. He eyed him, carefully taking a step back, acting as though he were casually examining the object that would inevitably lead to his demise with an academic interest. "And when you remove the immortality?"

Horus glared back at Hath-Set, knowing good and well that he was merely stalling. Still, he found himself responding to the question anyways. "You should have died ages ago, but your immortality and internal youth have ensured your body's structure was preserved. Once those are gone, your body will catch up with the time. You will die." At Hath-Set's uneasy look, the god added, "Oh, it's really not that bad, honestly. Immortality is boring anyways. You've seen one dynasty you've seen 'em all, really. Besides, everything must perish in the end, even gods."

Hath-Set nodded slowly, inching towards the relic on the desk. It was a small vase, Ancient Egyptian writing carved into its surface. The lid was in the shape of an atef crown, a crook and flail printed on top of it. They were three of the many symbols of Osiris, the god of death and rebirth. (Oh, the irony in that.) The vase itself held magical properties that allowed the user to entrap another inside, essentially sticking them in a death like state, leaving the rest of the world to forget all about them. "Indeed they do..." Hath-Set snatched the vase from where it was perched, as he responded to Horus's statement. "Indeed, they do..."

Too late, Horus realized what was happening. He moved to stop Hath-Set, but the god was much too slow after all these years. Hath-Set opened the vase, and a green mist emitted from inside the relic. The god screamed in rage, as the mist surrounded his form, swallowing him whole and dragging him back inside the vase. The god's body twisted and turned, cracking and snapping in a not so pleasant manner. Once the mist had dissipated, Horus was no more. His staff fell to the floor, clattering loudly. Hath-Set placed the relic back on the desk, his smirk returning. "And, perhaps you were right, old friend. I have been thinking much too small."

He walked over to the god's fallen staff, taking it in his hands and eyeing it with a certain resolution. "Perhaps, I should be thinking much bigger." Hath-Set was already beginning to form a new plan, something more than just chasing down Chay-Ara and going after Khufu. For centuries Hath-Set had stood by men and power, watching, learning. But never acting, never taking that power for himself, even though it would be very easy to do so. No more. Starting now, he would be the one in charge. People would follow him, listen to him, because to them he would be a god. (And he basically was, wasn't he?) He would reign. And with that reign, he decided, he should have a name. Perhaps that one Chay-Ara had called him? What was it? Savage? Ah, yes. That should do just nicely...

* * *

Okay, so there's a lot going on here, so this is probably gonna be a long author's note. Bare with me, please. Thanks. (I'm also tired 'cause it's almost nine in the morning and I haven't slept yet, 'cause yeah who needs it?)

First, and probably most important thing, the Dunet kids' ages. So, before in the second interlude I had said that Anita was sixteen, but recently I changed it because I realized that in order for Anita to be sixteen now, Deserey would have to have been eighteen when she was born. That would be fine, I have nothing against mother's who have kids early in life, except this won't really work for this particular story. You'll see why later, I guess. So, Anita is now twelve, and her brother Daren is eleven. So, just be aware of that to avoid any confusion in the future.

Next thing. Just to rehash, the second scene in this interlude is, in fact, Carter and Kendra from another life. They don't have all their memories yet, and so they don't know who they really are. They are also teens, because I thought that would be fun. Young love and all that jazz. Interesting trivia? The name I gave Carter, Landon, is something I got from the show Legacies. His last name is derived from one of the creators of the Hawkgirl comics: Gardner Francis Cooper Fox. The name I gave Kendra, Shelia Carr, is the name of one of her reincarnations from those same comics.

Rip's thing. We'll come back to this at a later date. Promise. This was meant as a sort of hype thing, I guess. To get you wondering about it, as well as remind everyone that in Sandstorm Rip has attempted suicide at least once. (Because it will be a bit important later so...) Kinda spoiler-ish, but...really. Remember this scene. Because we'll revisit that exact moment later, when we find out who the mysterious woman is.

And Savage's thing. I got this idea a few days ago and decided to just run with it. I think I'll come back to this Horus thing at a later date, too. (But much later. Maybe season three or four?) I just thought it would be fun to see how Savage "thought" of the name Savage and what prompted him to think, "Hey, you know what, I should totally be a dictator, yo!"

Alright. Enough commentary. You just read the chapter. You know what happened in it. (See, I told you this thing would be long. Sorry.) So, I'll end this thing with a question:

Would ya'll care if I made the last bit of the White Knight events one long chapter? (Possibly like 10k words or something...) I just really wanna hurry up and get through it, because I have a lot of things I want to get done in this story, and I feel like I'm taking a lot of time with it.

I'm not sure if I'll actually make it that long or not, but if I did I want to know what you guys would think of that. Is that too much for ya? Or does it matter? Let me know, please! Thanks.

That's all for now, toodles!

~ Elsie


	32. Kissing and Fighting

Ray woke to the roaring in his ears and the pounding against his skull. He groaned and tried to open his eyes, but the harsh sunlight forced him to keep them closed. No, wait. Not sunlight. Starlight. It was night. Those were stars, not the sun. All sound was gargled and warped, as though he were listening from underwater, but he recognized the distinct chirping of crickets in the distance somehow. There was something else too. Voices, he thought. Unfamiliar voices. No, that wasn't right. It was just one voice. His hazy state just made it sound like there was more than one.

"Damn it, Haircut. Why's it always you who ends up throwing your own ass into danger?" The more the person spoke, Ray came to realize that he actually did recognize the voice from somewhere. He just couldn't place it. It was gruff, angry. A little scratchy. Like whoever it belonged to constantly spoke in a low growl that irritated their throat more than anything. Ray tried to remember where he'd heard it from, but the incessant ringing in his ears and the distorted noise made it hard to think.

Ray shifted, trying to sit up and maybe open his eyes again so he could see who was there. He winced, apparently causing the person in front of him to realize he was waking up. The person pushed him back down, and Ray let them. He thought maybe his ribs were broken. (Or at the very least he had one hell of a bruise.) "Don't move until the others find you. They'll bring you to Gideon and fix you."

"Who...?" Ray tried to speak, but he winced again. Everything hurt like hell. His head was pounding like a vicious drum set, his torso ached, and his ankle was throbbing, so he had probably sprained that too. Still, it could have been worse, he thought.

The other person let out an annoyed grunt. "Haircut, would you just stop being an ass! You weren't suppose to get hit by that! That was that other idiot's fault. So, just shut up. Sit there. And wait."

"Huh?" Haircut. That was familiar too, Ray realized. Ray forced himself to sit up, despite every muscle in his body screaming at him not to. He forced his eyes open, doing is best to ignore the searing light of the stars that seemed as blinding as the sun. Ray squinted at the blob in front of him, willing it to transform into a more solid shape.

Slowly, his vision began clearing, the star light didn't seem so intense, and the blob was beginning to become a person. Ray saw that it was a white man, big in stature, probably someone you didn't want to mess with in prison. Someone you didn't want to mess with period. Also familiar...

Ray squinted, trying to make out some distinguishing features, but before he could the person slipped on a thick helmet, hiding their face from him. The helmet was familiar too. His mind must have been clearing a little too, because he recognized it almost immediately as Chronos's. But that wasn't right. That voice wasn't the bounty hunter's. It was someone else's. Someone a little more familiar. Why couldn't he piece it together? It was driving him crazy!

Ray changed his focus from the voice to the body. That seemed a little easier, since he didn't know a lot of rough people. There was Oliver, of course. But this man was much larger than the Green Arrow, and Oliver was back in 2016. So not him. John Diggle seemed about the same size, but then this man in front of him was white, not black. (And again, Dig was in 2016.) So, he was also out.

The pounding in Ray's head caused him to lose focus, so he decided to think about something else. That nickname. Only one person called him that. Back to the body. He was about the same size as the man in front of him too. He had the same voice. Ray's heart skipped a beat, his vision clearing just enough that he could properly make out the armored form of Chronos crouching in front of him, trees and shrubs in the background.

Ray forgot all about the pain his body was under, as he scrambled to his feet, only to slip and fall again, his ankle letting out an angry cry as he tried to put weight on it. His eyes widened, staring back at Chronos. The puzzle had finally been put together. "You're...you're..."

Chronos made an irritated noise. "I knew this was a bad idea," he grumbled. "But seeing as how you already know anyway..." Ray watched as Chronos hesitantly lifted his hands to remove his helmet again, revealing the man underneath. And Ray's suspicions were confirmed. The reason he'd seemed so familiar wasn't because he'd been chasing after them this whole time. It was because he'd been with them this whole time. Because he was...he was...

"Mick," Ray breathed. The air in his lungs hitched at the sight, even though he'd partly been expecting it. He shivered, but it didn't have anything to do with the fact that Russia was freezing. It was strange, seeing the burly man dressed up like that. It didn't look right. He didn't look right.

Ray stared at him, mouth agape. "I – I don't understand. How..."

Mick gave him a look Ray had never seen on him before. He couldn't really place what it was. Something calmer than the raging fire that normally burned within him. It was more like a light camp fire, something warm and cozy, not malicious and dangerous. "You don't need to know how. You don't need to know anything. You shouldn't know anything. I was suppose to kill you. All of you. Probably would have."

Ray shook his head. His brain was seriously lagging, and he was still trying to catch up and process this new information. "Wait. I'm sorry. You're Chronos? But you're Mick! And Mick's with Rip and Deserey. Does that mean you're from the future?"

Mick – Chronos, whoever he was now – grunted and sent a glare Ray's way that almost seemed like himself. But it didn't quite look the same as it usually did. "Ray, would you have some self preservation for once in your stupid life? I just said I was gonna kill you and your friends!"

"Oh right." Ray eyed him carefully. He wasn't sure how to deal with this now that he knew exactly who Chronos was. "So, why haven't you?"

Chronos grunted again, sounding a little more like Mick that time. "They called me off. Just for an hour. Some stupid deal that goes south."

Ray nodded slowly. "Right. Okay. A lot's making sense now. So...back in the severities. In that field. That was you too? And in the fifties on the beach? When you said you couldn't come back to the Waverider because you were already...something. You were going to say because you were already there, weren't you?"

Chronos rolled his eyes. "Yes, Haircut. That was all me. Keep up!"

"Sorry," Ray said. "My head's still kind fuzzy from the explosion. Uh, what was that anyway? You said there was someone else?"

"Yeah, some douche in golden spandex."

"Oh."

Chronos gave him that look again, that one that was so unfamiliar and unlike Mick Rory. "I'm gonna go now, Haircut. That hour I mentioned is almost up, so I gotta go beat Rip and the others up."

He started to get up, but Ray grabbed his arm, clutching as tightly as he could in his still slightly foggy state and as firmly as the thick metal armor would allow. "Wait. You don't want to do that. I know you don't."

Mick – Chronos, whatever – stopped. Ray tried to look him in the eyes, but he wouldn't even glance at him. "We've already had this conversation." His voice had lost the edge he always spoke with. It wasn't a grunt, or a growl, or even a hiss. It was just a normal voice, a bit soft and steady even. "Don't have a choice."

"You don't –" Ray cut himself off with a scoff. "Of course you have a choice! It's easy. Just don't do it."

Chronos glanced down, and Ray realized he was still holding on to his arm. He slowly let go, as Chronos scoffed. "Why do you always have to do that?"

Ray frowned, wishing he'd meet his eyes. He tilted his head, trying to find the other man's gaze. "Do what?"

"That thing you do when you –" Mick stopped abruptly, as he glanced up to send an annoyed glare Ray's way...only he wasn't glaring. It was just that look again. "When you act like everyone is as good as you are..." he finished quietly.

"I – I – um..." Swallowing was hard. Ray would have blamed it on the explosion, but he knew that had nothing to do with it. This feeling – something like shock waves coursing through his entire body – was something else, something that had been developing recently. It'd been so completely random that he hadn't been sure what it was or if it was even real. But something about those words made it seem very real. As real as it had been with Anna... Suddenly he know why Mick had been avoiding his gaze... Belatedly, Ray wondered how long it had gone on for him. Did he feel the same in Ray's present? Or was it something that developed later? Or maybe Ray was just making things up...

Ray let out a shaky breath. He scrambled for something coherent to say before Chronos decided to take advantage of his befuddled state and leave. "What about Leonard? Y-you're not just going to kill your best friend." Chronos tensed and looked away again. Ray frowned. "Are you?"

Chronos became very interested in fiddling with the gun on his holster. Ray didn't think he planned on using it though. He didn't respond.

"Mick." Ray shook his arm, trying to get him to look at him again. "You're not going to kill Leonard." He wasn't asking. He knew he wouldn't. He couldn't...right?

Mick didn't say anything though. He just stared back at Ray, that unnamed expression never leaving his face. He hesitated for another moment. Then, he did something unexpected. Chronos - Mick - grabbed Ray by the shoulders, pulling him into a quick kiss, before abruptly standing. "Bye, Ray." That was it. Ray watched him go, his mind reeling to much to react.

* * *

When Carter woke up, he was drowning. He thrashed around for a moment, struggling into a sitting position, only to realize that the ground he sat on wasn't water. It was a forest floor. And the water he had thought he was drowning in wasn't even that. It was dog slobbers.

Carter blinked, willing his fuzzy vision to clear. When it did, he saw that he was in a small, grassy clearing. The trees were circling the place, but inside the clearing was empty, save for him and the dog, only long blades of grass for miles, like the place was something sacred. Carter groaned at the thought. He hated sacred places. They usually always meant trouble.

He turned his attention to the dog. A Siberian Husky. Female. Her fur was thick, nearly as white as the snow with tan markings on her forehead and back. She had soft, baby blue eyes, which were staring back at Carter with interest, like she might have been thinking, _hey, what's with this unconscious guy?_

Her ears perked up when she saw Carter moving, and her tail began wagging at an alarming speed, like, _Oh, look! I brought him back from the dead! Yay!_

Carter groaned again, rubbing his head. He must have hit it on something when he'd landed, because it hurt like hell. He held his hand out to push the dog back, as she stepped forward to lick his face again. "Where did you come from?" he wondered out loud. The dog let out a soft howl, as if she were trying to respond to him, but Carter didn't speak dog. (He had in the past, however, been able to communicate with birds.) He pretended he understood anyway. "Really? All that way? That's fascinating. Well, I'm gonna go find Ray and chew him out for getting us exploded." Carter patted the dog's head and got up.

But when he started walking, he heard four little paws trotting behind him. Carter glanced back to see the dog was right at his heels, wagging her tail. "Or you could come with me. That's cool, too, I guess," he muttered. She let out a low howl of approval. So, the pair went off in search of the Atom.

It didn't take long to find him, especially since nearly seconds after Carter had started walking he heard uncontrollable sneezing. (He'd almost forgotten that Ray said he was allergic to furry animals.) He was crouched next to a tree, not far off from where Carter had landed. Carter approached him and helped him to his feet, when he realized he was struggling a bit to get up. Then, he said, "I told you so."

Ray scoffed. "What do you mean you told me so? We're not dead!"

"We were exploded! That's close enough!" Ray looked like he was about to argue about it some more, but whenever he opened his mouth to speak he was cut off with a vicious round of sneezes. When he was finally able to stop, he changed the topic completely. "What's with the dog?"

Carter shrugged. "She was here when I woke up." He looked down at the dog. She was staring back up at him from where she sat on the ground, wagging her tail rapidly. Her tongue was hanging from the side of her mouth. Carter snorted at the dog before turning back to Ray. "We should get back to the ship, though. Snart's probably already there."

"Oh, yeah," Ray nodded. He sneezed again. "We'll have to look out for someone wearing gold, though. Chronos said -"

"Wait," Carter stopped him. "You talked to Chronos?"

Ray shifted his weight from foot to foot. Carter couldn't tell in the dark, but he thought he might have been blushing at the mention of the bounty hunter, too. "Uh, yeah..." Ray said quietly.

Carter sighed. "Oh my god, Ray..." The dog whined, covering her face with her paws, as if she were thinking the same thing. Ray just sneezed again in response. Carter sighed again, as they started making their way towards the Waverider. (And yes, the dog followed.) Though, they didn't get very far before that 'douche in golden spandex' Chronos had mentioned showed up.

He appeared out of no where, hovering in mid air above Ray and Carter. Dark blonde hair was poking from the top of his blue cowl, flopping to one side of his head. Yellow goggles shielded his piercing blue eyes. But neither the goggles or the cowl did anything to hide that deep, furious frown the man wore on his face. His gold and blue suit stretched against his form, revealing the thick muscles his body possessed. From the center of the guy's chest Carter could see a glowing, silver, metal star that sort of threw the whole thing off. (Then again the whole get up sort of clashed.) "Didn't I just explode you two?"

Next to him, Ray wordlessly slipped the Atom suit's case from his pocket. Slowly, he took the suit from the case and muttered something to activate it. At his words, the suit instantly sprang to life, wrapping around his body, like something right out of a Transformers movie. (Honestly, Carter wished it could always be that fast to get changed.) Carter swung his mace out from where he'd been keeping it hidden underneath the coat of his suit, his wings sprouting from his back a moment later.

The gold star guy chuckled to himself, like they had just proven themselves to be a threat to him. He raised his fist. "I knew you weren't from around here." An energy beam, something like what came from Ray's suit only this one was white instead of blue, shot from under the guy's wrist. Carter and Ray scattered before the beam hit them, each taking to the sky. The dog, meanwhile, ran off to hide somewhere until the fight was over.

"Guess he's not from around here either," Ray said.

Carter shrugged. "Guess not." With that, the two Legends flew at the gold star, ready for battle.

* * *

Deserey hesitated when the professor had suggested they send Rip in alone, while the others hid in the shrubs and waited for his signal. She really just wanted to charge onto the battle field and smack the crap out of this Druce guy. It seemed a lot easier. But Stein and Rip had insisted he would be fine, so Dez had no choice but to begrudgingly follow their lead.

She was crouched behind a large bush, fist full of sand, her body rigged with anticipation. Mick was sitting to her right, finger laying on the trigger of the heat gun. His face was hard as a stone, like he was itching to let lose on this ass hole just as bad as Dez was. Jax and the professor were to her left, merged as Firestorm. (Their nuclear fire was turned off so they wouldn't give away their position.) Occasionally, Jax would make a face or roll his eyes, so Dez guessed that Stein was probably babbling non stop in his head. She sighed, as Rip approached Druce just a few feet away. They really didn't have time for Firestorm to be arguing again.

Druce eyed Rip up and down as he entered the field. Dez could have sworn she spotted a small smirk, like Rip was doing exactly what he wanted him to do. As if he was just so god damn proud of himself and his manipulation tactics. "I cannot tell you how pleased I am to see you, Hunter." Hunter this time. Not Rip, like he had called him in their last meeting. Apparently, they were moving from informal to professionalism, now. That...wasn't good, to say the least.

Rip nodded, glancing up at the starry sky as best he could through the thick greenery of the trees. Though, perhaps he was just checking again to see if Chronos was hiding up on one of the branches. That thought made Dez's stomach twist, and she found herself glancing upward as well, hoping she wouldn't find any metal clad bounty hunters hanging above her.  
Rip glanced back at Druce, placing his hands in the pocket of his trench coat as he so often did. "I finally came to my senses. You were right, as always."

Dez knew it was a lie, but she really didn't like that sentence. Something about the 'as always' part really didn't sit right with her. Deserey only grew more agitated, as Rip went on though, his words gnawing at her like pesky mosquitos on a musky summer night. "I've risked the lives of my team and endangered the very fabric of time itself. I only hope you can forgive me."

Druce frowned, flashing Rip that parents gave their children when they caught them misbehaving: that one frown accompanied by that slow head shake to express severe disappointment. Dez had never really used it, (mostly because she had never really been disappointed in her kids before) but she had seen other parents do it quite often. "All will soon be made right again."

There was a swift movement, and within seconds Chronos was standing directly behind Rip, gun trained on the back of his head. "Hello, old friend." Dez's fist clenched, the sand burning against her skin. She moved to jump in, but Mick grabbed her arm and pulled her back down before she could be spotted. She glared at him. He just shook his head, sending a silent message: _not yet._

But Dez wasn't sure how much longer she could wait. The sight of Chronos had ignited something in her that she hadn't really been expected. She couldn't really place what it was. All she could think about was that night at the beach back in the fifties, that laser he'd shot her with. Then, there was Professor Boardman, who he'd shot and killed with another laser... And...Something else. Something she wasn't quite ready to revisit.

Dez shook her head, turning back to the scene in front of her. She needed to focus. Rip was standing stalk still, so as to not tick the bounty hunter off and cause him to shoot him. Druce shrugged, staring back at the captain of the Waverider with that same disappointed look he'd had on since they'd met up again. The way the shadows formed around him, slithering over his face and torso, made the Time Master look even more like a Sith Lord to Dez, and she half expected him to pull out a glowing red light saber or start force choking Rip. "I'm so sorry it had to turn out this way." Dez doubted that very much. "But the Time Council cannot risk keeping you alive."

Rip let out a small laugh. Dez had to hand it to him. He really made it sound as though he hadn't been expecting this to happen. Then again maybe he hadn't. Maybe he had been so caught up in what he'd been hoping would happen that he forgot to expect the less desirable outcome. "Such a shame. I won't be able to tell Mick and Deserey they were right." (Was it just her or had Chronos flinched when Rip had said Mick's name? No. Couldn't have been. Must have been a trick of the light.) At Druce's confused look, he added, "My colorful friends who were convinced you were planning on killing me."

"Ah," Druce nodded slowly. Dez couldn't help feeling slightly offended. He hadn't even bothered learning any of their names before he'd hopped over to the eighties to murder them all. Druce shrugged, like he couldn't care less about Mick or Dez, which she also found a bit offensive. "Your friend seem to have abandoned you...No matter. Chronos will track them down."

Rip scoffed, maybe genuinely pissed. He might have stormed off or even decked Druce in the face if there hadn't been a gun pointed at him. "I can't believe you brought this stooge to do your dirty work. I never had you pegged for a coward, Druce." Dez mentally gave him a pat on the back for that one.

Druce paused for a moment, looking Rip up and down once more, like _how dare you challenge me! "_ In that case I promise to stay here to ensure that your punishment is carried out properly. I wouldn't want you to die alone."

Rip flashed the Time Master a cheeky little smirk. "Who says I'm alone?"

"Well, if that's not a cue, then I don't know what is," Jax said. Firestorm's head and hands burst into flames, and the nuclear duo shot into the sky. They hurled flames towards Chronos, as Mick jumped to his feet shooting his own round of fire Druce's way. Dez thrust her hands out, sending two blasts of sand at both of their adversaries.

The fire combined with the sand blasts were enough to send the Time Cops, as Mick had called them, flying across the field. Chronos and Druce simultaneously landed on their backs, each grunting in pain as they fell. (Dez tried not to feel too happy about that.) Before either of them could get up again, Deserey formed a sandstorm around them, blinding the Time Master duo.

She thought that would have been the end of it, expect she couldn't see Chronos through the sand. Without her knowing, he had reached into his utility belt, grabbing a small bomb. He tossed it towards the Legends, as Firestorm swooped down with another stream of flames. The two attacks met their marks at the same time. Chronos flew backwards once more, falling out of the sandstorm and tumbling across the forest floor. Meanwhile, Firestorm was thrown out of the sky, slamming into a tree as the pair was forced to unmerge. Mick let out an angry growl, sending his own blast of flames at the bounty hunter. This time Chronos didn't fire back. Instead, he fled the scene. (Odd.)

"Jax!" Dez yelled. "Stein!" In her surprise, she accidentally let the sandstorm surrounding Druce drop, allowing the Time Master to rise to his feet and dust some of the sand off himself. He turned to Rip, heaving a deep, tired sigh. "Well, I suppose if you want something done right you have to do it yourself." Dez watched in horror as Druce pulled out a gun from his pocket, pointing it directly at Rip. It was similar to the blue revolver Rip had, only Druce's was violet. (So, not a red light saber but close enough.)

Rip reacted quickly, whipping out his own gun and aiming it back at the Time Master. The two squared off for a moment, both looking hesitant to shoot the other, Rip more so than Druce. Dez grabbed another handful of sand, her nerves racing. Mick aimed his heat gun at Druce's skull, waiting for someone to give him the okay to fire. From the corner of her eye Dez spotted Stein stumbling to his feet, but he was clearly much too woozy to fight any more.

The professor leaned against the tree for a moment before he was able to stand up right. He glanced around frantically. "Jefferson? Jefferson!" Jax walked out a moment later, tripping over himself. There was a red mark across his abdomen where there must have been some sort of gash he'd gotten from the fall.

"There you are!" Stein said, rushing to him, his voice stern. "Why didn't you answer when I called? Did it not occur to you that I might be worried?"

"No need to shout," Jax said. "I just got a little turned around..." By the time Jax got to the end of his sentence, his words were slurred. His eyes rolled in the back of his head, and he collapsed a moment later. Mick dropped his gun on the ground, as the kid fell into him, momentarily losing consciousness.

"Jax!" Deserey's mother instincts kicked in. She dropped the sand back in her bag before rushing over to where Mick was lowering the kid to the ground, Stein hovering off to the side worriedly. Rip forgot about his stand off with his old Time Master buddy, putting his gun away and rushing over to Jax's side as well. For some reason Druce didn't shoot any of them while they were distracted. (She guessed he either wanted them to look at him when he killed them or because he preferred other people to do his dirty work and wasn't really sure how to go about doing it himself.) But he did take the opportunity to threaten them. "I wouldn't worry to much about him. Soon you'll all be dead anyway."

Dez rolled her eyes. "Bitch, shut the fuck up." The comment seemed to amuse Druce, which pissed Dez off a bit but at least he had enough sense not say anything else. Mick conveniently pulled a bandage wrap from the pocket of his coat. Dez made a face. "Where did you get that?" she wondered. "And how long have you had it?"

He opened his mouth to respond, but Stein cut him, taking the wrap from the aronsit. "Never mind that, we've got to fix him!" He started unwinding the bandage so frantically that he fumbled the wrap a few times, until Deserey finally took it from him. She was by no means a doctor, but she had some experience with putting band-aids on ouchies. Though when Rip lifted Jax's shirt up so that Deserey could wrap the bandage around the wound, she found that it was a little more vital than a tiny bruise.

The gash was pretty deep, spewing dark red blood all over the young man's torso. Deserey made a face, hastily wrapping the bandage around Jax's waist, as Rip and Mick held him up and Stein flipped out off to the side.

"That won't hold long," Rip guessed. "We need to get him to the med bay, now."

"What about Time Cop?" Mick asked, reminding the two parents of the Time Master watching them from two feet away.

By some miracle Druce still hadn't killed them yet. Dez glared at him, as the group rose to their feet, Rip and Mick hold Jax upright. "You know you keep talking about killing us." She gasped dramatically, as she made a show of looking around at their group. "But, oh, look! We're still alive."

Druce wasn't paying her any mind though. Instead, he was focusing on the thing that had, apparently, stopped him from killing them this whole time: a fly buzzing around his face. The Time Master swatted at the thing, but it was relentless.

Stein blinked at the scene, momentarily forgetting about his worry, as he frowned deeply. "Is that...Dr. Palmer?"

Deserey wasn't sure what he'd meant until the fly she had thought was attacking Druce started growing. It kept growing until it was revealed to actually be the Atom, standing before the Time Master in his red and blue metal suit. He briefly turned to the others, a big grin on his face as he waved at them. "Hey, guys!" Then, he frowned. "What happened to Jax?"

"We'll explain later," Rip told him. "Where did you -"

Ray shifted a moment, pointing at the sky as he told his story. "Oh, well, Carter and I were fighting this other guy, and we seen you from up in the sky. And it looked like this guy was trying to shoot you. So, I came down as teeny tiny Atom to help."

Before anyone could ask 'what other guy' Carter and some guy wearing a star on his chest came crashing down from the sky. The two grabbled on the ground for a moment, before Hawkman managed to shove the other guy away from him. Carter huffed, jumping to his feet. He glared at the other Legends. "Thanks for the help, guys. Really appreciate it."

"Oh, sorry," Ray said. He moved to help the Egyptian prince, but the star man had already lost interest in them. Instead, he turned to Druce, glaring daggers at him the same way Rip did Savage.  
"I knew you'd be with him," the unnamed man growled under his breath.

Druce stared back at him in the same manner one might regard an over filled dumpster. Apparently, he had forgotten all about the Legends as well. "You're suppose to be dead."

The star man shrugged, the scowl never leaving his face. "Suppose to be a lot of things, pal." From the way he had spat the world pal, Deserey guessed the two of them weren't actually friends. Further evidence for that accusation was provided when Star Man raised his fist, shooting an energy blast Druce's way. But before the blast got anywhere near the Druce, he pulled out one of those fancy remotes the Time Masters like carrying around so much, pressing a button and teleporting away in a flash of blue light.

Star Man emited a low growl that Dez had really only ever heard Mick make before. "Skeets. Tell me we didn't just lose him?" For a moment, Deserey thought he was cursing in some language she hadn't heard of before. But then, a small, golden machine rose from the arm of the man's suit. It was about the size and shape of an egg with three stands on the bottom and a black screen on its surface, a red dot at the center of the screen. The thing floated towards the man cautiously.

Ray's eyes widened in amazement at the thing. "Whoa! What is that, like, an APT 32-bit?" He glanced over the little machine, looking like he wanted to take it in his hands and hold it for a while.

"Not the time, Ray," Deserey told him.

He nodded guiltily. "Oh, yeah. Right. Sorry."

The robot ignored them, hovering in front of Star Man. "Negative, sir. I cannot get a read on Zaman Druce anywhere in the time line." The thing's voice sort of reminded Deserey of K-9 from Doctor Who and the Sarah Jane Adventures, a bit nasally and high pitched, exactly how someone would expect a robot to sound.

Star Man let out a string of curses. He whipped around, glaring at each of the Legends in turn. The man shouted at the top of his lungs. "Where is he? Where the fuck is he, god damn it!?"

Ray let out a nervous laugh, gesturing at himself and the other Legends. "Well, how should we know? We don't even know who that guy is."

The man paused for a moment. "Wait," he said slowly, his anger dissipating. "You're not with him?" He pointed to the spot where Druce had been standing moments before. When the Legends shook their head, he began muttering to himself.

"...Look, we'd love to help, but as you can see we're in the middle of something," Rip said, pointing at Jax. "So, we'll just be on our way."

He nodded to Mick, and the two started to drag the younger man back to the Waverider. But the star guy ran forward, grabbing hold of the Captain's arm. "Wait!" he cried. "I need answers!"

Deserey sighed and rolled her eyes. She grabbed a handful of sand, pushing between the two of them. "We don't have time for this. Ray, Carter, you two get to carry him." The man frowned in confusion, but before he could ask what she was talking about Deserey blew the sand in his face, using her powers to maneuver it around the glass of his visor. She hadn't done the trick since their first trip to the seventies, so she wasn't sure if it would actually work or not. Fortunately, however, the man toppled over a second later, fast asleep. The robot, Skeets, hovered frantically. "Back up requested!" he started saying. "Back up requested! Calling Blue Beat -"

"C'mere, you junk pile!" Mick growled, snatching the thing from the air, effectively shutting it up.

* * *

Honestly, I'm not sure about this chapter. I felt kind of off when I was writing it, but I guess it's alright. I hope y'all enjoyed it anyways.

Is the Atom Wave thing too soon? I didn't want it to be forced, but then...I just couldn't stop myself once the idea entered my head. And I mean... you guys probably seen it coming anyways, right?

Annnd! Y'all liked the Legend Pet idea so much I decided to make it happen! I bet you thought I forgot didn't you? Nope! Just took awhile, but now she's finally here! Yay! She has sort of an instant connection with Carter, which I will explain later.

Next. Any guesses on who this new mystery guy is? (If you are savvy with comic book info you might have a pretty good guess.) Do you think he's here to stay or is he just in passing? All will be revealed very soon, but first I wanna hear your thoughts so let me know in the comments!

Also sorry if my computer terms are off. I literally just did a quick google search because I have no idea how that stuff works.

That's all for now, toodles!

~Elsie


	33. New Friends and Trouble pt 1

Mick and Rip rushed Jax to the med bay immediately once they returned to the ship, Stein trailing behind, getting in the way every now and again. Meanwhile, Carter and Ray, with directions from Rip, took their new friend to the brig. Deserey wasn't sure why a time ship needed a prison cell, but now she was glad it was there. Once the two unconscious boys were in their rightful places everyone head for the bridge. Len was waiting for them all, lazily slumping in the captain's chair at the front of the room. He glanced over them, when they walked in the room. "Eesh. You all look like crap."

Dez snorted. "Well, don't hold back. Tell us how you really feel."

Before Leonard could retort with a sarcastic statement of his own, Rip jumped in. "How did things go with Vostok?"

Leonard reached into his pocket, pulling out a plastic card and tossing it to the captain. "Works at a place called Luskavic Labs. Project for Savage is probably there."

Ray frowned at the thief, but instead of lecturing him, he said, "I guess I should just be happy you didn't swipe her wallet."

Leonard rolled his eyes and sat him, yanking a leather, red wallet from his other pocket that must have belonged to Vostok at some point. "Why, do you doubt me?"

Ray stared at him, eyes wide. "Seriously?"

Len shrugged, slipping the wallet back into his pocket. "I stole your wallets, too." He pointed between Ray and Carter. The two checked their pockets, and they must have realized he was telling the truth because they glared or rolled their eyes at him respectively. "Consider it payment to make up for ditching me with Vostok." Leonard got to his feet, eyeing the pair, a look of annoyance plastered all over his face. "Where'd you run off to anyway?"

Carter shrugged. "Ray wanted to chase after Chronos." Ray looked like he was going to defend whatever reason he had for chasing after one of the three people who wanted to kill them. Instead, he let out a loud sneeze, startling Stein, who had been hanging out in the parlour's doorway, not really paying attention. "Guess the dog followed us," Carter muttered.

Deserey perked up. "Dog?"

Carter nodded, just as a white husky bounded into the room, wagging her tail, tongue hanging out. Deserey couldn't help herself, she let out a shriek at the sight, dropping to her knees and holding her hands. "Pupper!" The dog trotted up to her, as Ray continued sneezing; Dez let her sniff her hand. At the dog's okay, Deserey started petting her and scratching behind her ears. "Aren't you just so precious?" In a matter of seconds the dog had rolled over, and Deserey was rubbing her belly.

Ray groaned after sneezing for several minutes straight. "I'm just gonna..." He pointed towards the exit. As he was leaving, Kendra stepped into the room, rubbing her shoulders like she was in pain.  
"Hey, Carter, your dog was outside so I let her in," Kendra said. Her eyes flickered over to where Deserey was still petting the furry animal. "Oh, never mind. Guess you found her."

Carter's eyes widened. "Oh." He dragged the word out as he said it, the way people do whenever they'd just remembered something important. Carter looked down at the dog. "Is that why you've been following me?"

The dog stood up, letting out a sharp, "Arph!" She moved past Deserey and jumped at Carter, placing her front paws on his legs, nearly knocking him over in the process. He stumbled but quickly got his balance again, petting the dog. So, apparently the dog had belonged to Carter in another life. Neat.

"What's her name?" Dez asked, getting to her feet.

Carter shrugged, lowering the dog on all four again and brushing off the fur she'd left on his pants. "I didn't even remember I had a dog until thirty seconds ago. How should I know?" He looked at Kendra, but she just shrugged, clearly not remembering either.

"Fang? Fur ball?" Mick started guessed. "Oh. I got it. Cat Killer. Definitely Cat Killer." He started sipping from the beer bottle Dez hadn't seen him leave to get. (He really did that a lot didn't he? Pulled alcohol or food seemingly from out of no where.)

Deserey rolled her eyes at the arsonist. "It is not!" She frowned, glancing between the two hawks. "Is it?"

Carter shook his head. "Yeah, probably not."

"It doesn't matter," Rip said sternly. "I specifically said no pets."

Len sighed, lazily slumping back in the chair he'd been sitting in before everyone had come into the bridge. He flashed Rip an annoyed glare. "Since when does anyone listen to you?"

Rip made an agitated noise, coming to stand at the center of the room, gesturing with his hands wildly as he spoke frantically. "With Savage and Chronos out there and this project Vostok is working on, we have more pressing concerns. Not to mention Mr. Jackson is injured in the med bay, and we now have another new guest thanks to the events that have transpired tonight." At the mention of Jax, Stein briefly looked up to the captain, but he looked away again when he realized it wasn't an update on his younger half's condition. Rip continued his rant, not even taking notice of the professor. "Besides, it's much too difficult to take care of animals on a time ship. Their side effects are much different from ours, and there's no where for them to go when they need to. Unlike us, they don't have the luxury of a toilet. Then, there's the matter of their food and water. And dogs need a lot of attention, attention that none of us will be able to provide whilst tracking down Savage and avoiding Chronos."

Deserey shared a look with the other Legends. The thieves looked rather indifferent on the subject, but the hawks looked just as eager for a Legendary Pet as she was. She knew what Rip was saying was important and very serious; and maybe she should have been slightly more concerned about the 'their side effects are different than ours' or even the Chronos and/or Savage bits... But, honestly... "How can you say no to that face?" Dez asked Rip, gesturing at the dog.

She was now laying down, head between her front paws. Her eyes were looking up at the captain, twinkling against the fluorescent lighting of the bridge. The dog's tail thudded loudly against the mettle flooring of the ship, as she began wagging. It almost looked as if she too were begging Rip to stay.

Rip sighed at the sight. Deserey and the hawks grinned back at him pleadingly. He caved a few moments later with a scoff. "Fine! If you figure out what her name is before we leave the eighties then she can stay." Dez and the hawks cheered, the dog letting out an excited howl to mimic them.

Once they had calmed down, Leonard eyed Rip seriously. "Now, what's this about a new guest?"

* * *

After explaining the events of the fight a few hours ago to Kendra, Sara, and Leonard, the Legends, omitting the two halves of Firestorm since Jax was still healing from his injuries and the professor refused to leave his side, gathered in the brig. (They'd left the dog in Carter's room so that Ray could be with the rest of them without sneezing his ass off.)

The brig wasn't as big as the bridge, but it was a lot bigger than the fabrication room and the galley. On the far side of the room three glass panels surrounded the back wall. Inside the cell there was a small, rectangular bench but other than that it was completely empty. (Dez had asked why there wasn't at least a restroom for their captive, and he'd told her that the brig wasn't meant to hold people long term.) The rest of the room was just big enough for everyone to crowd around and peer into the cell, where the man with the silver star on his chest slumbered.

They didn't have to wait long for him to wake up though, because the man started stirring a few moments after the Legends stepped into the room. He glanced around the room as he sat up, taking in his surroundings, before his gaze finally landed on Dez. "Huh," he mumbled. "Sand that makes people sleep? That's a new one."

Sara stepped forward, arms folded over her chest firmly. She didn't look like she was in the mood to listen to this random guy talk about Deserey's powers. Sara leaned forward, placing one hand against the glass, as she glared at the man. "Look, we're already hard-pressed as it is. So, we're going to ask you some questions and you're gonna answer with the truth." She stood up, withdrawing a long, silver knife from her boot. "Or we're all going to have a really bad night."

When Sara tapped the knife against the glass, Kendra flinched. Dez frowned, wondering if something had happened during their training session. She shook her head, deciding now wasn't the time to ask about it.

The man on the other side of glass just eyed Sara, a vacant expression on his face, as if her words were extremely dull to him. He sat back and propped one foot over his knee, like he was just making himself right at him. "You know, most people are inclined to put out drinks and snacks when they have people over. But I guess threatening to kill me is another way to go."

"Cut the crap," Sara hissed. "Who are you? How did you get here?"

The man chuckled to himself like Sara had just told him a hilarious joke. Leonard rolled his eyes at him. Dez couldn't really blame him. The guy's attitude was starting to get on her nerves as well. He'd just been kidnapped, he should have at least a little bit concerned about that! Rip most of been irritated too, because he asked, "Something funny?"

Star Man got to his feet and moved so that he was standing directly in front of the Legends on the other side of the glass door. "Oh, a lot, really. But at the forefront: I think I should be the one asking you those questions."

Sara scoffed. "Well, tough, because you're the one who's in the cell. Not us. So, we'll ask the questions."

Star Man shrugged. He made a face like, _fair enough_. "Okay, but why should I answer them?" Sara narrowed her eyes at him, raising her knife in response. At her movements, Kendra took a hesitant step back. Dez frowned again, glancing around to see if anyone else had noticed the priestess's odd behavior. Everyone seemed to be hyper fixed on the guy in the cell. What the heck had happened during their training?

The guy in the cell eyed Sara's knife with that same, bored expression he had been staring at the team with since they had started their interaction. He didn't say anything. Sara looked like she was on the verge of opening the door and smacking the crap out of the guy, but somehow Dez got the idea that he wanted her to open the door so he could attempt to sneak past her and the others. Sara must have sensed that too, because she restrained herself.

Ray stepped forward. From the way he was grinning, Deserey knew he'd gotten an idea. She wasn't sure if that should have made her worry or not. "Why don't we just answer each other's questions?" When everyone in the room gave him worried or exasperated looks, he went on to explain, gesturing at the man behind the glass. "Look, you want answers and so do we. And we're not going to get anywhere by standing around threatening each other." He turned again, waving his hands at the Legends behind him. "I mean, there's eight of us in the room right now. So, we'll ask you one question each and you can ask us eight questions. Fair?"

Leonard stared at Ray, scrunching up his face as if he'd eaten something moldy. "What is this pre-school?"

"Yeah," Sara nodded, lowering her knife to from at the scientist. "Ray, that's not really how interrogation works."

Kendra stepped up to defend Ray before he had the chance to speak for himself. "Well, I think it's a great idea. Less likely someone will get choked out." The two shared a look. It wasn't exactly a glare, but it didn't exactly look good natured either.

The guy behind the glass laughed again, folding his arms as he leaned against the glass. "This group is fun to watch. But I'll bite." He paused. "Though, you're already three down so..."

Sara shook her head, sending a glare his way. "No we're not. Rip's didn't count, and mine count as one question."

Star Man eyed her up and down. He must have decided that she could easily kick his ass and that it would be better if he didn't argue with the assassin, because he gave a curt nod. "Fine. Name's Michael Jon Carter."

Deserey blanched at the name. From across the room, she spotted Rip making an odd face of his own. The stow away eyed the pair curiously, having caught the looks they'd given him. Dez shrugged back at him. "That was my dad's name, Michael."

"Yeah," Rip said. "It use to be my name, too."

Ray frowned. "Wait. Really?" Next to him, the other Legends were looking vaguely surprised as well, but neither of them seemed particularly worried about it at the moment. (It was after all, unimportant compared to everything else they were dealing with.)

The stow away shrugged, as he continued. "They call me Booster Gold in the future. I time traveled here after stealing some tech from a museum."

Dez blinked. Another time traveler who didn't run with the Time Masters? What were the odds of that? She glanced at Rip to see that he seemed just as shocked as she was. Apparently, the Time Masters didn't have a lot of people go rogue. (Or at least not a lot that Rip has heard of.)

"My turn." The man, now named Michael, shifted, looking at the Legends seriously. He eyed each of them in turn, and Dez got the feeling he was accusing them of something malicious. "Where's Skeets?"  
Sara and Kendra shared a confused look. Leonard turned to Booster Gold, raising a questioning eyebrow at him.

Deserey shrugged. She hadn't seen what Mick had done with the thing after they'd come back to the ship. Rip and Carter glanced at Mick accusingly. The arsonist let out a soft grunt of what sounded like annoyance as he yanked the egg sized robot from his pocket.

Michael frowned. "Were you trying to steal him?"

Mick shrugged. "I'd answer that, but you've already asked your question."

Michael scoffed. He pushed himself off the wall, glaring daggers at Mick. "You were going to steal Skeets!"

"Why did you come to the eighties?" Kendra asked. She looked mildly annoyed by the exchange between Michael and Mick. Deserey couldn't blame her. She didn't mind it much herself, but it was slightly irksome when they were dealing with something serious.

Michael turned his attention from Mick to the hawk demigoddess. His expression turned serious, his voice taking on a certain melancholy. "To kill Druce." At that statement Rip visibly tensed. Even if the Time Master had tried to murder him just a few hours ago he had still, at some point, been Rip's friend and maybe even some sort of father figure to him. It made some bizarre sense that Rip wouldn't want anything bad to happen to him, but Dez still couldn't help thinking, _maybe we should have let him._

Mick seemed to be the only other one who knew what he was talking about, (and Dez remembered that the others really were clueless because Len and the other two females on the team hadn't been there, and Carter and Ray hadn't shown up until after Rip had said Druce's name) but he seemed rather indifferent on the subject. Michael was moving on before either Mick, Rip, or Dez could explain it to the others though. He drummed his fingers against the glass, scrunching his face up, like he was seriously considering his second question. When he finally spoke there was a suspicious edge in his tone. "If you're not with the Time Masters then why do you have one of their ships?" He tapped the wall with his knuckle.

"Oh, it's actually Rip's ship," Ray said. He pointed at their captain. "Vandal Savage killed his family in 2166 so he recruited us to help stop him and save the future from his wrath."

Michael glanced at Rip. He eyed him up and down for a moment. An expression that Dez couldn't really read washed over his face. It irked her more than a little how difficult it was to tell what this guy was thinking. He didn't send off any vibes what so ever. (Unless cocky douchebag counted as a vibe.) He was a bit like abstract art, Deserey thought, in the sense that one might stare at a painting for hours and still not be able to grasp the concept behind it. The only way a person might get an idea of what the art piece is about is if they knew something about the artist, a piece of their past, a sliver of insight to their personality. But even then it would only be a vague idea. Michael hummed softly. "That's interesting."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Leonard hissed from where he was perched by the wall. He was eyeing Michael with a look Dez had only ever seen him wear on the news when he was fighting the Flash. That glare, harsh as a blizzard.

Michael didn't seem very phased by the look, though. He just stared on, vacantly. "I've got a similar story."

Len gave a nod of understanding. Rip shared a look with Carter and Ray; Kendra's eyes widened at the words. Sara and Mick seemed virtually unaffected, but even they looked as though they understood what Michael was saying. It took Deserey a minute, though. When it had finally settled in, she couldn't help voicing it out loud. "Druce killed your family."

Michael shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant but Deserey didn't miss the way his eyes glossed over at her words. "He didn't pull the trigger himself, but he ordered it. So, basically the same thing, yeah." He paused a moment before asking his third question. "Other than a murderer and apparent dictator, who's Savage? You people keep talking about him."

Carter and Kendra launched into a vague summary of their experience with Savage. They explained how they'd gotten their powers and how Savage gained his own from repeatedly killing each of them in cold blood. Booster Gold eyed the pair of them, his mouth twitching upwards in a soft smirk once they'd finished. "That's the most confusing shit I've ever heard," he told them. "But I'll buy it, 'cause no way someone can make something like that up."

Carter gave him a look. "Good to know." The way he said it, though, gave Dez the impression that he was being sarcastic. "You said you were from the future. What year? Same as Rip or?"

Michael shrugged. "Guessing that's 2166? No, I'm from a bit further than that, actually. 2475, twenty-fifth century." He watched the team for a moment, taking in their reactions to that news. No one was very shocked by the idea, though. (Once you've met one vengeful time dad from the future you'd met them all.) "Alright. So, who are you people, then?"

Rip went around the room introducing the Legends by name to their new friend in the cell. He even went so far as to tell him about Jax and Stein, who were still in the infirmary. Ray added the fact that they'd taken to calling themselves the Legends and told Booster a bit about their powers.

Michael nodded as he listened to the two men talk. He had varies reactions when learning about the different powers and abilities the Legends had, seeming particularly interested in Mick and Len's heat and cold guns and especially surprised at hearing Sara had come back from the dead. "Why not take a time ship instead of stealing your tech from that museum you mentioned?" Ray asked, when it was time for him to ask his question.

Booster Gold shrugged again. He seemed a bit caviler for a guy who had been homicidal a few hours ago, especially considering he had just said that he and Rip were in the same boat. "Seemed easier at the time. I was being chased and the tech was there. Easy escape. Plus, I didn't know the Time Masters existed until they killed my family." Then, his fifth question. "What were you doing with Druce tonight if you weren't working with him?"

Rip opened his mouth to respond, but Deserey beat him to it. "He was trying to kill our captain," she told Time Dad Number Two. "So we were going to kick his ass. And we were until you showed up and made him leave." Her words were more bitter than she'd meant for them to be, but Michael didn't seem to notice. Either that or he didn't care. He just nodded, letting out another thoughtful hum.

"How do you know it was Druce that ordered your family to be killed?" Rip asked. They had been friends, Dez reminded herself. Druce could very possibly have been a father figure to Rip. Of course he would be skeptical on his behalf, even if Druce had just tried to kill him not too long ago. Dez wished she had such faith in people. But after being left in the dust by her own friends so many times, trust wasn't something that easily came to her. With one glance at the others, she could see from their body language that all of them, even Ray who seemed reluctant to believe there was a bad bone in anyone, were agreeing with her. Rip probably knew his old Time Master friend was no good too. He just wasn't ready to believe it, as Dez had thought previously. Things like that were difficult to fathom and even harder to get over.

Michael must have sensed there was a history between the Time Master and Rip from the tension with which the question had been asked, because he hesitated for a moment. He was considering his words carefully again, being careful not to offend the captain of the Waverider, lest he decide to let the blonde assassin have a go at him with that knife of hers. "I guess I don't have any definitive proof. But I've been searching for evidence through out the time line for a few years now. I've met a few people who've had similar run ins with the Time Masters. That was enough for me." His sixth question was spoken dubiously. "Are you sure you're chasing after the right villain here?" At first Deserey didn't register it as a real question, thinking he must have been defending his reasoning for assuming the worst of Druce.

The other Legends were silent for a long while, taking time to really consider this. Sara was frowning, her hands on her hips. Kendra's eyebrows were knit together, as she visibly thought about what Michael was asking them. Mick didn't act as though he'd even heard Booster Gold, but he had started messing with the glove on his hand, so Deserey was certain he had. Rip scowled, clearly offended at what the other man from the future was insinuating. But it was Ray who shrugged it off. "Of course we are. The Time Masters might have sent a bounty hunter after us, and they may have tried to kill a few of us earlier; but Savage single handedly took over the world in 2166. He attacked and killed Kendra and Carter hundreds of times, and he killed Rip's family. That seems like a big bad to me."

Leonard shrugged. When he spoke, it was with that long, drawn out drawl he used whenever he was trying to make himself appear more villainous than he actually was. "Seems like an awfully big coincidence, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," Ray admitted. "But it's not like the Time Masters are trying to take over the world or anything. They're just trying to protect the time line."

"And the only reason they didn't grant Rip permission to go after him is because he wasn't a threat to the time line," Kendra added. "And the only reason they sent Chronos after us was because he took the Waverider without permission."

Michael gave the two of them a pointed look. "Yeah, see, that's extremely fishy to me. Protecting the time line? You'd think the best way to protect the time line would be to not time travel at all, wouldn't it?"

Sara shrugged, putting her hand against the glass once more, as she leaned forward to glare at their captive. "I'll admit, some things aren't adding up, now that you've pointed them out. But I think you're just trying to get in our heads. Distract us from what we came here to do."

He held up his hand, pinching the air so that there was an inch of space left between his thumb and index finger. "Just a little bit," he admitted.

Leonard rolled his eyes. "We'll fill in the gaps later. Mick, Dez, one of you go so we can get this crap over with already."

"Fine," Mick grunted. He held up the robot Skeets, who had apparently turned himself off after the arsonist had stuffed him in his pocket. "Who was this thing callin'?"

Michael gave him a confused look. "Huh?"

Dez nodded. "Yeah, before he grabbed him, Skeets was trying to call someone. Blue Beat something or other." She shrugged. Honestly, she had forgotten all about that until Mick had brought it up.

Booster Gold gave a curt nod of recognition. "Blue Beatle probably. One of the people I mentioned earlier who've had a run in with the Time Masters. He's my back up." His seventh question. "How do you guys navigate through the time line? I have Skeets there. You must have an AI or something too, right?"

The Legends didn't have to answer this one, because Gideon spoke up, responding for them. "That's right, Mr. Carter. I am Gideon."

Michael grinned, pointing up at the ceiling. "Oh, she's in the ship. Nice."

Deserey stepped forward, shrugging hesitantly. "Guess I get the last question."

Booster nodded. "Shoot."

Dez nodded back to him. She considered her question, probably taking much longer than necessary if Leonard's annoyed glances were anything to go by. After a full five minutes, she finally asked, "Why do you matter?" She winced, realizing that could be taken the wrong way. "That's harsh. Lemme try again," Deserey said before Michael even had the chance to respond. "The Time Masters are only worried about people who threaten the time line or people who matter to history. If they attacked you and killed your family, they must have had a reason, justified or not. What is it? Why do you matter?"

Michael snorted at her rambling but otherwise he didn't have a reaction to the way she'd previously asked the question. "Good question," he said. "But I have no idea. As far as I know I didn't do anything important. So, unless it's something I haven't done yet, I don't know. I'll let you know if I find a reason, though." Deserey let out a hum of her own, as she waited for his last question. "What now?"

The Legends exchanged looks with one another. It was hard to tell what anyone was thinking. They all looked just as clueless as Deserey was feeling. Rip glanced at Michael apprehensively. "We'll need some time to consider what to do."

Booster Gold shrugged, like he'd been expecting that. "Sure. Take all the time you want." He turned and took a seat on the bench at the back of his cell, giving the eight team members a big smirk. "I'm not going anywhere."

* * *

After leaving the brig, the team didn't immediately discuss what to do with their prisoner. Sara slipped away, heading for the cargo bay as soon as they stepped foot into the halls, hastily muttering something about needing to sharpen her knives. She took great care to not to look into Kendra's eyes. Likewise, Hawkgirl went out of her way to avoid the White Canary's gaze. Carter went to check on the dog, and Ray left to find the two halves of Firestorm. The two crooks snuck off to their rooms to do whatever it was thieves did while they were alone.

Dez turned to Kendra the moment she and Rip were the only ones in the hall with the priestess. "So, what's up with you and Sara?"

Kendra eyed her apathetically, rubbing her shoulder like the mere thought of whatever happened during their training session was enough to make her body begin aching again. "I lost control again, but I came to after I accidently through her across the room. And then..." She sighed. "She tried to kill me."

Rip made a face. "I was afraid something like that would happen."

Kendra tilted her head at him. "You mean you knew about this blood lust thing?"

Rip gave her a one shouldered shrug in return. "It's a captain's job to know everything on the ship." After a moment, he added, "And I was hoping it would be a mutually beneficial arrangement."

Kendra stared at him blankly, clearly not grasping what he was trying to say. Deserey took the liberty of jumping in to explain. "You need to embrace your warrior side in order to become a sexy, bad ass Egyptian hawk queen, and Sara needs to accept her human side in order to become a beautiful, flawless woman...Basically, y'all have to Fab Five each other."

Kendra made a face at her, shaking her head and laughing slightly. "Not sure what that last part means, but I think I get your point." Rip shrugged, being confused about her Fab Five comment as well.

Dez grumbled, "Cishets."

"What?" Kendra asked.

"Nothing. Move along now, Kenny." Dez waved her hand, shooing the hawk warrior down the hall. "Lots of training to do." Kendra just laughed at her again before turning and walking down the hall to find Sara.


	34. New Friends and Trouble pt 2

**Trigger warning: Graphic scene of suicide attempts. Viewer discursion advised.**

* * *

Rip and Dez went down to the library to do some research for a bit. Deserey was still pretty cynical when he came to biological families, but she wanted to help Rip find some solace with his if she could. After a half hour of fruitless searching, the duo went to check up on Ray and the two halves of Firestorm in the med bay. Unfortunately, Jax and Stein were arguing again.

Rip and Dez got there at the end of it all, but poor Ray was stuck in the middle of the whole thing. (Ray explained in further context later. Apparently, he had told Jax to just rest since he was still a bit off from his injuries, and that had caused the professor to snap. Jax had jumped into defense mode at once; and the two halves of Firestorm went back and forth, arguing about the exact meaning of their partnership and the importance of their mission. It ended with Jax exclaiming Stein wasn't his father and the professor essentially calling Jax an insulant child.) Jax stormed past Rip and Deserey as they entered the room.

Ray was staring at the professor with big doe eyes. He looked like he was going to say something, but before he even opened his mouth Stein winced, raising his hand to stop the other scientist. "Don't say it. I know. It was cruel, and unjustified, and I said it just for the sake of hurting him."

Rip shared a concerned look with Deserey. Evidently their football therapy session had not worked at all. Honestly, not really surprising. Though, it was very disappointing. Ray glanced over at the other two before turning his attention back to Stein, frowning with confusion. "Why aren't you telling that to Jax?"

"I had to hurt him, Raymond. It's the only way I can get through to him. I've tried everything else!" It was a desperate attempt to rationalize the rude things he'd said to the other half of Firestorm. Deserey could see that even if she didn't know exactly what he'd said at that moment.

"Well, he's just a kid," Ray said. It didn't sound like he was judging Stein, just stating facts. If anything he sounded worried, not only for Jax but for the professor as well.

Stein shrugged helplessly. In that moment, he didn't really look like a sophisticated professional. He didn't give off an air of knowledge or radiate any confidence. Instead, he seemed just as utterly sad and broken as everyone else on the ship. "So was Ronald and look what happened to him."

Ray froze for a moment. Then, a look of understanding passed over his face. He eyed the older scientist with a look of sympathy and empathy, nodding slowly as he realized why Stein was being such a hard ass. "The former half of Firestorm..."

Deserey remembered Jax mentioning someone named Ronnie earlier when they were arguing then, too. Ronald, she guessed, must have been the guy's full name. She also remembered Jax saying that he had been Firestorm for less time than Stein had. Her insides started playing twister again, a morbid thought occurring to her. She was upset, when that thought was confirmed by the professor a moment later. "I - I can't go through that again. I can't lose another. The reason I'm constantly lecturing Jefferson is because I'm the one who brought him along. If something happens, I'm the one who has to go back to 2016 and tell his mother that her little boy is never coming home." His voice cracked slightly with that sentence. "And I would rather die than do that."

Deserey pursed her lips, looking back and forth between Ray and Stein. The professor wasn't meeting anyone's eyes, and Ray was looking at Deserey and Rip like: _Uh, help?_ She hesitated for a moment, glancing at Rip. The captain wasn't very helpful though, so she focused on Stein instead. "So, uh, not to pry, but...What happened? To this Ronnie or Ronald, whichever it is..?"

Stein shifted, still not quite meeting anyone's gaze. Deserey worried for a moment that she'd overstepped by asking, but he spoke slowly, his voice much softer than normal. "Before Jefferson there was another young man who acted as the other half of Firestorm. That was Ronald Raymond."

Deserey caught a brief memory, some vague words in the news paper about a burning man and a picture that looked similar to Jax, except a white man instead of the young black man traveling with them on the Waverider.

"We first merged on accident," Stein continued, "when the Particle Accelerator exploded. I was standing just outside Star Labs, and he had been attempting to fix whatever had gone wrong with the machine. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful, and the blast forced us to merge for the very first time. Back then, we were only just learning our abilities as Firestorm. We were uncertain as to how to un-merge, and, lest we unintentionally harmed one of our loved ones, we decided to live on the streets while we worked to understand Firestorm's capabilities.

"Though, like Jefferson and I, Ronald and I didn't always get along. We remained stuck as Firestorm for nine months, until we eventually sought help from Barry and the others at Star Labs. With their assistance, Ronald and I were able to un-merge as well as learn the full extent of Firestorm's abilities. With Cisco's engineering skills, we were able to design a device that helped us merge and un-merge – the quantum splicer. We acted as Firestorm for months afterwards, occasionally helping Barry and the others.

"Six months ago, we found the man who murdered Barry's mother, a speedster from the future known as the Reverse Flash. We all went to confront him, but in doing so we suffered casualties. The first of which was Eddie Thawne, an ancestor of the Reverse Flash, who shot himself in order to prevent the speedster's existence."

Rip made a face at the name Thawne, but he didn't comment on it so Deserey didn't question it. Instead, he said, "He can't have done that. It would have caused a paradox. This time line would cease to exist."

Stein nodded curtly. His expression was distant, like maybe in his mind he was somewhere else, somewhere better than here reliving his, apparently, dark past. "Indeed," he agreed with the captain. "Time had began to fold in on itself, our time line being erased. A singularity formed over Central City."

It was Deserey's turn to make a face this time. "What's that mean?"

"Think of a black hole," Ray told her. "But, uh, a lot bigger and much more deadly."

She nodded. Six months ago Deserey had been checked into a mental institution in Coast City after one particularly nasty suicide attempt, so she hadn't been there when this black hole, or singularity whatever, had appeared; but she remembered hearing someone mentioning some sort of deadly vortex or something in passing when she'd gotten back. Deserey shook her head lightly and looked at Stein once again. "Right. Okay. Continue."

"I'll spare you the science behind it all," Stein said thoughtfully. (Though maybe he just didn't have the heart to explain it all.) "But essentially, the singularity needed a powerful blast to counter act it's nature and get rid of it. Firestorm acted as that blast. We flew directly into the singularity, while Barry kept it at bay with his speed." He trailed off for a moment, his expression becoming all the more distant. "I survived. Ronald was not so lucky."

Deserey's heart sank into that never ending, icy cold ocean that had been forming in her lungs since the night Rip had gathered them. She'd been learning more than her fair share of secrets as of late. Seeing how much the others had gone through made her feel a little stupid about her own issues. They'd been through actual hell, multiple deaths, grief... And what was the worst Deserey had ever experienced? A few years on the street and a low self-esteem. That hardly mattered compared to what the others had went through. Yet, there was nothing she could do to make it better. Nothing she could say to take the pain away. It sucked, and she had to let it.

* * *

Jax took the next few days to rest and finish healing from his injuries. After her chat with Martin, Dez was feeling a bit off, as though her entire body had been dipped in cement and now she was trying to walk around with concrete slabs attached her limbs. So, the four Legends who'd put her on suicide watch rotated out with her every few hours or so.

When she was with Rip the two would go down to the library, and Dez would distract herself by helping him research in hopes of finding his biological family. When she was with Sara she'd join her and Kendra in the training room. (She'd gotten pretty decent at three main attack moves thanks to that.) She tried to avoid being with Leonard when she could. Seeing him just reminded her that she had majorly invaded his privacy, and that gave her an overwhelming sense of guilt that did nothing to improve her mood.

Mick didn't do much, which was fine, except for the fact that the silence allowed her mind to roam towards all those dark thoughts she didn't like having. To reflect on what she'd done to Leonard, to remember those horrible images from those dystopian futures, recall the annoying past that she had, and to realize just how hopeless everything really was. Everyone was broken, in pain. Suffering. It would never end. What was the point in fighting it?

At night she usually slept in Sara's room. (It was actually more like staring up at the ceiling for several hours, because she could never fall asleep with all the dark thoughts running through her head.) The team still hadn't discussed what to do with Booster Gold, who still sat in the brig just a few rooms down from Sara's room. Another reason behind her sleep deprivation. Everyone was so off kilter with one another, as though no one wanted to speak to each other. Besides, it wasn't easy sleeping with a stranger two feet away, any ways. One night in particular was especially bad. Dez had somehow managed to fall asleep, but an hour later she'd woken up to a burning sensation in her chest, like there was a heavy weight laying on her upper body.

It was uncomfortably familiar. Something she'd felt so many times before. Deserey stumbled out of bed and began making her way down the halls, heading for the med bay. She needed to make it stop. Disappear. She had to disappear. Had to _die_.

By the time Dez made it to the med bay, her vision was blurred with trepidation. She hardly saw the small medical chairs sitting against one wall or the blue monitor that stood between them. All Dez could make out was that cabinet in the back of the room with all the pills and medical gadgets. It was locked, but Dez tried tugging it open anyways. "Gideon," she mumbled, desperately hitting her hand against the glass of the cabinet. "I…I need you to open this…" When the AI didn't respond she kept calling out to her. "Gideon, please!"

There was another brief pause before Gideon finally spoke up. "I've been instructed to refrain from assisting you in acquiring any items that you may use to harm yourself."

Dez groaned, smacking the glass harder. Damn it. That figures. "Gideon. Gideon, please. I need to…" She banged her elbow against the glass, trying to shatter it to no avail. "I need to die!"

Gideon ignored her pleas, even as Dez kept slamming her hands against the glass for several minutes before giving up and searching for something else. She moved down the hall to the bathroom.

It wasn't very big – the shower was crammed into one corner and the toilet was stuffed into the other, the sink resting at the back wall – so there weren't many options. The last time Dez had been here she'd already had something in her hands, this time she hadn't been as fortunate. Dez managed to pry the cabinets above the sink open. She found a pair of silver scissors laying on one of the shelves. The four suicide watchers must have missed it when they'd been trying to hide all the sharp objects from her.

Dez grabbed the scissors hurriedly. She guessed Gideon must have been instructed to tell Rip or one of the others whenever she'd slipped into a state like this. So, she probably only had a few minutes before at least one of them showed up. Dez hadn't really been counting on someone else showing up before them, though. She was pressing the scissors to her neck, drawing blood as she prepared to slide it across her own skin. But before she could do anything, a gentle hand plucked the scissors away.

Dez groaned, as she looked up to see the worried brown eyes of Ray Palmer. Of course, it just had to be him. She could already hear the 'you have so much to live for' speech he was no doubt planning. Dez spoke before he had the chance to begin that speech, her voice cracking more than she would have liked it to. "I need to die, Ray." To her it sounded like her voice was underwater, all echo-y and distorted to the point where she wasn't even sure if it was really her own voice.

He hesitated, and Dez couldn't stop the guilt tugging at her heart like steel chains. She could tell he wasn't use to these sort of things. He'd probably never actually talked someone down from suicide before. Or maybe he just genuinely cared that much. It was hard telling which was more likely with him. She didn't really care at that moment. Dez's head had gone under that sea that had been forming in her chest since the night Rip had recruited the Legends (Failures more like it but whatever).

The world was a million miles away. It felt as though she wasn't even there, like maybe she didn't even really exist, like it was all a dream…or a nightmare. Her limbs were lead. Her head as heavy as a bowling ball. The only reason she managed to stay upright was because Ray was steadying her with one hand. His other hand reached behind him, putting the scissors on the sink.

Since the space was so small, she probably could have fought him off (Dez doubted Ray would hit her back) and take the scissors again, but she didn't really have the energy for it at this point. Ray lead her over to sit on the toilet's seat. Dez kept waiting for that speech, knowing she would only half listen to it, except it never came. Ray didn't tell her all the reasons she shouldn't be feeling this way. He didn't get mad at her for it. He wasn't judging or belittling.

Instead, Ray crouched in front of her, looking at her with those stupid puppy dog eyes of his, and for a moment Dez actually let herself believe that she mattered. She shoved the thought away as quickly as it came, though. She couldn't afford to think that selfishly. Not when Rip's whole world had literally been torn apart, when Sara and Kendra were grappling with something Dez only just understood, when everyone else's issues were far more pressing than her own.

Compared them, she really didn't matter. All she did was whine and make more problems. She hadn't done anything helpful yet, and it wasn't likely she ever would. Rip was just wasting his time by bringing her on board. Dez was only going to slow things down, especially if he and the others were always more focused on baby sitting her. And her family…She didn't even want to consider how much better off they'd be without her. Her ex had sent her off with some random British guy just to get rid of her. It would just be better for everyone if she ended it.

But Ray made it really difficult to ignore that small ping of significance with the way he kept staring at her, like he actually cared, as if she _did_ matter. It was enough to make a person feel like they were the most important being in the universe even if that was the farthest thing from the truth. Dez didn't usually like crying in front of people, it made her feel stupid and weak. She'd avoid doing it whenever she could, but with Ray she didn't feel the need to try holding it back. So, she didn't. She let the ocean she'd been drowning in for so long flood over, spilling out like a busted dam.

Ray didn't make her feel stupid for it. He just wrapped his arms around her, providing a safe place for her to feel weak. She felt a bit like Will from _Good Will Hunting_ , especially when Ray started telling her it wasn't her fault. Dez wasn't sure how long she'd sobbed in his arms for, but by the time it was over she had a massive headache. She pulled away, opening her mouth to say something but before she could, Gideon piped up, telling them they'd arrived at Luskavic Labs and were needed on the bridge. Dez shrugged and hurried off, Ray following behind her.

Carter, Rip, Len, and Mick were waiting on the bridge when they got there. (Sara and Kendra were still training apparently.) The professor was on the other side of the coms. (Evidently he'd gotten into a hurry and decided to go ahead without backup, using Vostok's badge to get inside.)  
 _"I know what Vostok is working on,"_ Martin said through the coms on the console. " _She's trying to build…me_."

Rip frowned with confusion, as Deserey and Ray joined the others. "What do you mean?"

 _"_ _I mean Savage has spent the last decade trying to level the arms race against our team. Operation Svarog. The Slavic god of fire! Of course_ ," Martin said. Deserey glanced around the room, thinking her headache must have been making her a bit slow, but everyone else appeared to be just as confused. Fortunately, he went on. " _He and Vostok are building a Soviet Firestorm."_

The icon on the screen with Stein's name on it moved a little on the map, indicating the Martin had started walking again, only to stop a few seconds later. " _They've already built a thermal core_." Deserey had no idea what that meant, but it didn't stop the chills from running up her spine.  
It seemed to make Rip worried as well, because he stood stiffly all of a sudden, speaking softer than normal. "Professor, need I remind you this is a reconnaissance mission?"

" _It's only a matter of time before Vostok figures out how to stabilize a Soviet Firestorm_ ," Martin reasoned, and Deserey didn't need to see the map to know he was walking towards this core thing. " _I'm not leaving without it. It's the key to building others just like me."_

Rip sighed. "Yes, well, perhaps you should wait for the rest of the team!" He gestured for the others to get going, sliding com links and translator pills their way as he did so. The others followed the implication at once, sticking the coms in their ears and swallowing the translators before running out to the science lab.

Len lead the team into the labs, sneaking past the guards easily enough. It was a big building with a shotty light system and leaky pipes, just like the asylum back in the fifties, except more Russian. (Savage really enjoyed places that looked like the setting of a horror movie didn't he?) There were rooms lining the walls from floor to ceiling, each with a fuck ton of science equipment Deserey couldn't even begin to understand.

Len decided it would be best if they split up to cover more ground. He and Ray went one way, Carter, Deserey, and Mick another. Mick ahead of the other two to look for anyone who's lights he could punch out. Carter took the opportunity to turn his coms off, looking at Deserey oddly. "Can I confess something?"

She shrugged, turning her coms off as well. Her head was still pounding, and she still felt a bit off from earlier so she wasn't sure she'd be the best unbiased listener at the moment, but she didn't bother to tell him that. As soon as her coms were off, Carter said, "I heard you and Kendra the other night."

It took Deserey a moment to remember any conversation that she'd had with the priestess lately due to her pounding head and the flickering lights. But when she did recall what he was referring to her eyes widened. "Oh, um, uh…" She started twisting a strand of hair in her hands. "Why are you telling me?" Did he think she should have told him? Was he pissed?

Carter shrugged, looking saddened if anything. At least, if he was pissed it didn't seem to be directed at her. "I just never knew…"

Deserey nodded, making her head pound even more. "She probably didn't tell you because she didn't want to relive it. I don't know. It's not really my place to talk about other people's rape. If you want to know the answers try talking to her about it, not me." It might have come out more cold than she'd intended, but Carter didn't seem too offended by it so she didn't apologize for the attitude. "Let's just focus on what we're here to do first, okay?" She turned her coms back on, hurrying off to find Mick.

Meanwhile, down the hall and up two flights of stairs, Leonard and Ray were having a confession time of their own. The duo had just entered the control room for the thermal core, as indicated by the sign on the door. There was an electric panel at the front, over looking a large operating room. Along the concrete floors several beds were spread out with sheets covering objects that bore a disturbing resemblance to something human. At the other end of the operation room, the duo spotted a large, round object with a hallow inside – the thermal core. Professor Stein was stepping inside it. Ray had been acting squirrelly the way there, so Leonard sighed, shutting the coms off. He didn't really care what was bothering him, he just needed to make sure the idiot wasn't about to jeopardize their mission.

"What?" Leonard demanded, staring at the scientist coldly.

Ray jumped, obviously guilty of something. "W-what do you mean what?"

Leonard rolled his eyes. "You've been acting strangely since we got back to the Waverider after taking that smuck in. So, what is it and how badly is it going to mess things up?"

Ray scoffed at the implication that he was going to mess up, but he didn't argue against it. He hesitated a moment before turning his own com off. "Two things." Leonard inwardly groaned, a bit sorry he even asked. "Uh, first, the more recent one, Dez. It's kind of… Well, I'm not sure if I even have a right to say anything about it, because it's her business but it's really –"

"Would you get on with it already, Raymond?" Leonard snapped.

"She tried to kill herself," Ray said quickly. Then, a look of pure guilt washed over him. "Oh, gosh. Maybe I shouldn't have told you. Maybe she didn't want anyone else to know. Oh no! I'm a bad friend!"

"I already knew she was suicidal. Stop rambling," Leonard snapped again. Though, he couldn't pretend he wasn't the least bit concerned about that statement. Where were the rest of them? Where was Sara, or Mick, or Rip? Where was he? How was it that she had managed another attempt without his knowing it? They'd been watching her so closely… Well, obviously not closely enough. He shook his head. "What's the other thing?"

Ray relaxed a little when Len said he'd already known, but he still looked perplexed. "Oh, uh, Mick is Chronos. Well, not Mick Mick, the one we know now, but a future Mick. He's Chronos. He told me when Carter and I were chasing after him." He frowned at Leonard's lack of response. "And you already knew that too, didn't you?"

Leonard just stared back at him, completely unmoved by his confessions. This was what got him so worked up? Really? "He's my partner, Raymond. I've known him long enough to know how he fights. Doesn't matter if he's wearing stupid armor or not. Mick is still Mick."

"Oh." Ray let out a heavy sigh, apparently relieved to get those two things off his chest. "Okay." Then, another concerned frown. "Does Mick know he's Chronos?"

Len shook his head. "And you better not tell him either. He doesn't need to know." Ray looked like he wanted to protest, but before he could say anything, Leonard pressed the button to turn the coms on again, silently sending the message: the conversation was over and it wasn't up for debate. Neither would be telling Mick about his future.

Ray turned his com back on, sitting in the chair at the panel. The conversation between Rip and the professor was still going on.  
" _Are you familiar with ultra-high-energy cosmic rays, Captain_?" Martin asked. " _The radiation released inside this chamber will kill anyone other than me_."  
" _Look, despite your impermeability to nuclear energy, you're still quite vulnerable to bullets!"_ Rip said loudly. The Professor ignored him.  
" _I just need someone to take the core offline_ ," he said, " _so I can remove it safely and shield it."_

Raymond took that as his cue to chime in. He started fiddling with the controls, grinning like an absolute full, apparently momentarily forgetting his worries. (At least they wouldn't screw with the mission, Len thought.) "I'm all over it, Professor."

Leonard spotted two guards dressed in navy green rushing in to stop the duo. He punched the first out easily before turning and knocking the second out as well with the butt of his Cold Gun. "We're all over it," he corrected Raymond.  
Stein ignored Leonard and went on to babble science with Ray. " _Remember, Dr. Palmer, that shutting down the core incorrectly can lead to the creation of –"_

Ray cut the professor off, sounding much too cheery for the topic they were discussing if you asked Leonard. "Strangeness, black holes, and uncontrolled fusion reactions that consume the universe? See? I was listening during class, Professor." Leonard rolled his eyes, thinking that last sentence was a bit redundant, considering Professor Stein didn't even remember having Raymond in his class, if he recalled the conversation he'd over heard between the two a while back correctly.

The professor ignored him, probably too preoccupied with whatever he was doing in the containment chamber to respond to such nonsense. Leonard stood by the door, watching for more guards. He was getting rather antsy. This was taking far too long for his liking. Over his shoulder he called out, "How we doin', Boy Scout?"

"Uh, point of fact," Ray said, actually having the audacity to correct Leonard, "I completed all twenty-one merit badges, including Nuclear Science, so I'm an Eagle Scout." As if that even mattered. Leonard just gave a curt nod, deciding it would be better – at the very least he wouldn't be trying his patience so much – if he just didn't bother talking to the geek. (He half expected Deserey to chime in with some snarky remark, but she stayed silent. Probably due to her being a bit off after her apparent suicide attempt, Len guessed.)

Unfortunately, that plan had to be discarded rather quickly. Through the window at the front of the room and across the way, Leonard spotted Vostok briskly strutting her way across the catwalk. Leonard would have happily ignored her presence, except Ray spotted her as well and decided to comment on it. "Uh-oh. We got a problem. Valentina's headed toward the core containment unit. The radiation Stein's about to unleash –" He cut himself off, changing his sentence. "I-if she opens the door –"

Len let out a heavy sigh, as Ray stood from the chair. His patience was really wearing thin with this guy. "We're here to stop Savage from building a nuclear powered superhero. Saving some commie broad ain't on the agenda."

Ray wasn't about to give up the argument though. "Even if the radiation doesn't kill her, Savage will, the second he finds out the lab's been sabotaged!" Len rolled his eyes. He'd been right. Raymond Palmer's moronic heart was going to ruin everything, just not in the way Leonard thought it was. "Look," Ray said. "We got to get her out of here."

"Well, who's gonna shut down the core, Raymond?" Leonard asked in one last desperate attempt to make him forget Vostok. "I skipped that merit badge."  
Evidently the professor was becoming irritated at Ray's selflessness too, because he piped up through the coms. " _Raymond, why is the thermal core still running at full power?"_  
Ray hesitated for a moment, but then he made up his mind. He looked at Leonard seriously. "I'll handle the core, you handle Valentina."

Leonard scoffed. "You're willing to risk the mission for a woman you barely know?" That would have been bad enough if Raymond hadn't been asking Len to do the same. He was getting fed up with people thinking he was some sort of hero. First Barry, thinking he could some how do better; then Rip, asking him to join him on this, in all honesty, probably doomed mission. Now, Ray was acting like he could get him to be some White Knight and shining armor for some lady that didn't even matter to him. It was pathetic, really.

"Be helpful to others," Ray shrugged, apparently quoting the Eagle Scout motto. Len shoved him back in the seat, thoroughly annoyed at this point. Clearly, he wasn't going to do anything useful until Vostok was rescued, so against all his personal beliefs and morals Leonard had to do it.  
"Thirty seconds," Len hissed through gritted teeth. "I'll get Vostok. You kill the power for Stein. And, Raymond." He gave the Eagle Scout a stern look, pointing a scolding finger in his face. "Promise me." Ray gave a small nod in response. There was no need to elaborate. It was obvious what Leonard meant: promise me you won't do anything stupid.

Leonard met up with the others on his way to save Vostok. Mick looked as annoyed as Len felt. Clearly he'd heard everything over the coms. Leonard started talking before he had the chance to voice any complaints. "She's around the corner. Wait here for back if – and by that I mean when – things go south." Mick gave a curt nod. He looked like he wanted to argue against this whole Vostok thing, but he had learned better (for the most part anyways) than to question Leonard's judgment on a job, which as far as he was concerned that's all this was.

Deserey and Carter followed Mick into the perfect hiding place for all three of them. (The laboratory provided many convenient shadowy areas for just that.) Leonard continued forward, hardly skipping a beat as he met Vostok around the corner. He held up a hand to stop her. "Bad idea."

The scientist's eyes widened. "What are you doing here?"

Leonard huffed. "Believe me, I've been asking myself the same question."

Vostok stared at him for a moment before a look a realization washed over her features. "That night at the Bolshoi. It was you who stole my keys."

"And your wallet," Leonard added with a dull shrug. "But it was nothing personal."

Vostok shook her head, glancing over the side of the catwalk. Her eyes widened again, as she leaned against the yellow rails, spotting Stein in the containment center. "What the hell is that man doing? He has no idea what the core is capable of!"

It was very rare for Leonard to screw up. In fact, he could probably count all of his blunders on one hand. So, it was a bit irritating, knowing that he slipped up when Vostok whirled around. (Personally, he blamed Ray for pissing him off.) She tried to move past him, but Leonard stopped her. "Relax. He's the one who invented it."

Vostok's eyes lit up, and Leonard winced as he realized his mistake. He could tell she was weighing her options, wondering how she could get past Leonard and get to Stein. Len was willing to bet she'd be pretty ruthless too. He was trying to consider his own options, but Stein started babbling through the coms again. " _I'm the first person to have ever seen cosmic radiation with his own eyes!"_  
Then Raymond chimed in with more annoying sentences. " _Well, let's keep it that way. Snart, you better keep Valentina out of the core containment center."_ As if he didn't already know that. Honesty, for someone with more PHDs than Len cared to count he could be pretty dumb at times.

"You used me," Vostok said, probably just stalling. "You work for the American government."

Leonard shrugged. "I'm wanted by the American government, does that count?" She turned, and he kept going, feeling the words burn his insides like acid. He just wanted to get this over with already. "Look, I may be your White Knight just this once, but that weapon Savage has you building? He's creating a nuclear-powered monster."

Vostok let out a small laugh. She turned again, raising a hand held gun in Leonard's face as she did so. "I know." Leonard wasn't all that surprised, if he were being honest. The scientist wasn't unwittingly working for Savage. She'd been in on the whole thing all along. Go figure. "It was sweat of you to think of me as a damsel in distress, but…I'm not the one who needs rescuing." Vostok reached over and took the Cold Gun for him. Leonard let her, knowing Mick would be around soon for back up.

"Don't flatter yourself, sweetheart," Leonard told her. "I'm not the sentimental type."

"No," Vostok agreed, apparently sensing that he wasn't lying about that. "But you're partner, the physicist with the big brown eyes, is." She turned briefly to the room across from the catwalk, looking directly at Raymond through the glass. Vostok grabbed Leonard, pointing the gun under his chin as she stood behind him. "Turn the core back online." Leonard saw Raymond standing up. Not good. Vostok must have seen too, because Len could practically hear her smirking with her next words, "You will turn it back on, or I will put a bullet in your friend's head."

"Don't you dare," Leonard hissed. "She's going to shoot me whether you do it or not."

"That may be true," Vostok admitted, "and you can take that gamble if you like." Leonard had to hand it to her. She really knew how to get what she wanted. He would have admired that under different circumstances. "It's only his life you wager."  
"Almost there," Stein reported.

"I'm not joking, Raymond. Don't you dare push that button!" Leonard glared at him from across the room. Where the hell was Mick and the other two? Surely they were hearing this. Why were they being so quiet?

Apparently Len's warning went unheeded, because a second later the Professor cried out, " _Raymond, what's going on? The core just went back online!"_  
" _Sorry, Professor. I had to do it_ ," Ray said.

"You idiot," Len hissed.

* * *

 **I know I put a trigger warning at the beginning, but considering I even triggered myself while writing this part...I figured I'd better be safe.**

 **The rest of the fight scene will take place in the next part of this chapter. (I'll have to stretch it into three parts instead of two.) It should be up soon after this one. I just have to do the author's note so...yep.**

 **That's all for now, toodles!**

 **~ Elsie**


	35. New Friends and Trouble pt 3

" _I—I can still remove it,"_ Deserey heard Martin through the coms. Though, she hardly registered his words. A great deal of her attention was being obsessed by Vostok as she held a gun to Leonard. The thief was unwavering in the face of the danger, as if he wasn't the least bit concerned about being shot, which – in all honesty – sort of scared Deserey a bit. He was either a brilliant actor or he had been in so many situations in which a gun was pointed at him that they just didn't phase him any more. (The latter option was much more frightening, especially considering it was also the more likely of the two.)

Deserey wanted to jump in as soon as she spotted the gun, but Mick told her to hang back. She found it annoying and risky, but she listened anyways. _"I just hope I can absorb the excess power_ ," Martin went on.

" _No_!" Ray protested with a panicked voice. _"Do you have any idea the kind of energy that_ –" There was a loud thud on his end, as he abruptly stopped mid sentence. Deserey had a sickening feeling she knew what that meant. A guard must have found him and knocked him unconscious. She looked at Mick, thinking they should probably jump to the rescue now, but he was still waiting. Carter exchanged looks with, Deserey, and she got the feeling he was wondering what he was even waiting for the arsonist's orders.

Jax came on the coms from the Waverider, startling Deserey a bit. He wasn't talking to her though. He was talking to Martin. " _What the hell are you doin' Gray?"_

" _Jefferson_?" Martin responded.

" _You are not Firestorm_!" Jax said, and Deserey imagined him standing on the bridge, hands pressed against the console as he spoke with urgency. Rip would probably have been standing near by, but the captain remained silent as the two halves of Firestorm spoke. " _You're just a stubborn old man who's about to make a really stupid decision."_

" _Wait_ ," Stein said. " _I—is this what it's like when I'm in your head? I apologize, dear boy, it is rather distracting."_ Well, Dez thought, at least they made up.

Jax ignored the apology for the time being. Apparently, he had gone all in on becoming the half of Firestorm that does the lecturing. " _Your body cannot handle this alone!"_

Martin stubbornly ignored the younger man. " _I appreciate your concern. But you were right. I risked your life enough times. Now, it's my turn."_

From where she stood, Deserey couldn't see what was happening or what the professor was doing, but she knew it wasn't anything good from Jax's cry of, " _No_!" Martin must have risked grabbing the thermal core. " _He's too weak. He'll never get out of there alone_ ," Jax said after a moment. (Evidently Stein didn't blow them all up. Woo!)

Deserey heard guns in the distance, and her heart sank. Martin had been caught. Vostok walked herself and Leonard to the edge of the catwalk. "Professor Stein," she called out to Martin, "your comrade here tells me you know quite a bit about this project of mine. Very good. You and I have much to discuss." Deserey heard footsteps around the corner; she assumed the guards must have been taking Martin away. Maybe Ray too.  
"What are you waiting for?" Leonard asked Vostok, sounding bored. "You forget how to use that thing?"

Vostok backed them up so that they were directly in their line of sight. She turned Leonard around, aiming the gun at the back of his head. "My employer, Mr. Savage, would very much like to meet you and the rest of your friends."

"Careful what you wish for," Leonard said, probably smirking. Mick moved. So, that's what he'd been waiting for. A cue.  
"This where the party's at?" Mick's shout startled Vostok, causing her to turn abruptly. Leonard ducked out of the way just as Heatwave fired the Heat Gun; Mick walked forward, kicking the Cold Gun to his partner in crime from where Valentina had dropped it as she ran from the fire.

Leonard grabbed the Cold Gun, but before he got to use it he had to duck back into hiding, as gun fire rang throughout the laboratory. The shots echoed off the walls, making Deserey jump. She hadn't heard an actual gun fire since she'd lived on the streets, and the shots didn't exactly strike up any good memories. Vostok hurried down the stairs in the opposite direction. Dez shoved her dark memories down as she and Carter followed the Mick's lead. Carter flew around, smashing guards' heads against each other. Dez send sand blasts at a group of guards, who thought she'd make an easy target. (Unfortunately for them she was just waiting for a chance to let out all her pent up aggression, and they were the perfect excuse.)

Mick shot flames at anyone who moved; Leonard fired ice at anyone who came near him, the two partners being careful not to cross streams. Deserey blew a fist full of sand in one guard's face; a few feet away she spotted Mick get shot by another guard from the catwalk above theirs. She gasped in surprise, as he was overrun by another large group of guards. (Where had they all come from?) Carter flew across the way, throwing the gun man over the edge of his catwalk. Deserey heard a snap, as the guard hit the floor, but she found it hard to feel sympathetic since he probably deserved a few broken bones. Mick dropped the Heat Gun, as he began grabbling with the guards. He wasn't going to last long, not with that bullet wound.

Rip spoke up through the coms. "Do not let Vostok leave with that thermal core!"

Carter swooped down to the ground below, grabbing a small metal box (Deserey guessed that must have been the thermal core) that had been laying on the center of the floor, as Vostok arrived on the scene with a volley of guards. One guard shot Carter in the leg, making him drop the core; and the guard dragged the injured Egyptian Prince away. Carter struggled but it was no use in his state.

Deserey and Leonard were still busy focusing on Mick. He was yelling at them to go, but Leonard looked like he wanted to fire the Cold gun on the guards, but there was no way he'd manage to do so without hitting Mick also. Deserey grabbed a fist full of sand. Maybe she could knock a few of them out with her sleep thing.

She was about to send a puff of dust their way, when another guard came up from behind her, grabbing her arm roughly. It threw her aim off, and she ended up hitting Mick and completely missing the guards. The arsonist fell unconscious, allowing the guards to carry him off as well. Deserey whirled around, decking the guy who gripped her arm and sending him spiraling over the edge of the catwalk. She turned to chase after the guards who had Mick, but Leonard grabbed her arm. (Which was kind of risking seeing as how she had just punched out the last guy who tried that.)

"There's too many of them," he said stiffly, ducking to avoid being shot. He didn't sound too happy about letting his partner get kidnapped either, but at this point they had no choice. There were just too many guards. His gun could only do so much, and Deserey was running out of sand. They had to move or else risk getting taken as well. Leonard shoved the Cold Gun in its holster. "Hold on."

Deserey yelped, as Leonard wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close. She felt her cheeks heating up, and she just barely had time to grabbed hold of him around his neck before he jumped over the side of the catwalk. With his free hand, Leonard gripped a pair of metal chains, using them to slide down to the floor below with ease. He let go of Deserey as soon as their feet hit the ground. Leonard landed in a crouch like a true bad ass, but Deserey stumbled and fell on her ass, bullets flying over head, the shots echoing off the walls.

"What the fuck was that?" Deserey scoffed, as Leonard pulled her to her feet.

"I told you to hold on," Leonard reasoned. He was moving before she had the chance to say anything else, shoving Vostok to the floor as he grabbed the thermal core before making a beeline for cover behind the chamber. Dez followed him, ducking as she ran.

She reached for a handful of sand, as she crouched next to Leonard behind the chamber...Only her bag was empty. She hadn't realized until then that she'd used the last of it when she'd accidentally knocked Mick out. The bullets from the gun fire slammed into the metal, making clanking sounds that caused Dez to wince. Leonard set the core between them, firing back at the gunmen with the Cold Gun. "Now might be a good time for some reinforcements!" Leonard yelled into the coms at Rip, as he brought his gun back out. "Mick, Stein, and Carter just got pinched by the Russkies!"

" _You're going to have to get out of there right now,"_ Rip said, which wasn't very helpful.

"You're hanging up out to dry, Rip!" Leonard snapped. The bullets pelted the chamber behind them, and Deserey flinched at the noise. She didn't like this. She didn't like it at all. "I need backup!"

" _I'm afraid our only option is retreat_ ," Rip said stubbornly. Deserey was torn. She didn't want to leave the others behind, but she also really didn't want to be shot again either.

"What about my partner?" Leonard demanded. Dez cringed, feeling guilty weigh heavily on her as he mentioned Mick. It was her felt he'd been captured.

" _Well, until we devise our next move, Mr. Rory will have to fend for himself._ " Rip wasn't going to relent. That was the annoying thing about having so many stubborn asses on one team, no one could make up their mind about anything, which made being stuck in the middle of a shoot out very irritating. _"Remember the mission! The soviet's get that thermal core back, your partner will not be the only one who dies."_

Leonard huffed. He moved to leave, but a guard rounded the corner, grabbing him by the shirt and forcing him to drop the Cold Gun. Deserey reacted without thinking. She grabbed the Cold Gun from the ground and fired. Only, the thing had more of a kick than she'd been expecting. Dez stumbled back, nearly losing her grip on the gun, as the white stream emitted from the barrel. The blast was enough to send the guard flying across the room in a block of ice…but she lost control, and the stream hit Leonard's hand as well, instantly casing Captain Cold's fist in a block of ice.

Deserey fell, dropping the gun, her mouth hanging open in horror at what she'd done. "Dez!" Leonard screamed probably both in pain and annoyance. He tripped when he stumbled back in surprise, slamming his hand against the chamber, sending shards of ice and blood scattering everywhere. Dez wasn't sure if she or Leonard screamed louder that time. Leonard was still wincing in pain as he used his only hand to holster his gun again and pick up the thermal core. Deserey's hands were shaking as she got to her feet, legs wobbling. "Oh my god," she mumbled. "I shot you with your own gun. Oh my god!"

Leonard winced, holding the bloody nub close to himself as to not expose it to anything and let it get infected. It must have stung like a bitch, and Deserey was surprised he wasn't cursing her out. "Just go!" he told her. She couldn't tell if his voice sounded so cold and distant because he was mad or because he was in pain. It was probably both. Deserey pursed her lips, but when another gunshot hit the chamber, she bolted, Leonard not far behind her.

* * *

Mick had woken up by the time they got outside. (The shaky movements of the guards had woken him.) He did his best to fend them off, but there were far too many of them, and he ended up getting slammed into the side of the transportation truck. Stein had been shoved in a moment before, and Mick spotted the guards lugging Ray in to the back as well via a hospital gurney. (Bird Man was there also, but he was being shoved in the back of some other vehicle.)

"You better kill me now," Mick growled at the colonel, "otherwise when I get out I'm gonna get all Rocky IV on your ass!" In retaliation, the colonel shoved Mick's head into the side of the truck so hard that it bounced off and forced the guards to momentarily lose their grip on him. They quickly regained their hold, though, shoving Mick's hands behind his back, as they moved him towards the back of the truck. "I'm gonna remember that, comrade," Mick promised as they walked around the colonel. The guards stuff him in the back of the truck with a frightened professor and still unconscious Haircut before slamming the doors shut behind him.

Outside, Mick heard that science lady telling the Colonel they had to leave. He responded with, "There's still two more intruders, and they have the thermal core."

"We don't need it now," Vostok insisted. "We have something far better." Then, they got inside the truck as well and they drove off.

* * *

Rip had the med bay set up for Len upon their arrival. There was an arm rest sitting next to the medical chair nearest to the door; a metal bar rose up from the armrest, a blue needle hanging from the end of it. Leonard let the captain lead him over to the chair, if only because he was in too much pain to protest. "Gideon, start the regeneration process," Rip ordered, once Leonard was seated. Deserey was hanging back in the door way, holding the thermal core box with a guilty look on her face.

"What do you mean regeneration?" Leonard asked skeptically.

"I think it means Gideon's gonna grow your hand back," Deserey guessed. "But how's that even possible?"

"I took genetic samples from each of you at the start of our voyage for this exact eventuality," Rip explained, pointing at Len's nub.

Dez frowned. "Wait. You predicted this exact scenario?" Rip nodded. "Wow. That's a little creepy, Rip. Also, when and how did you take these samples?"

"And why are we only hearing about this now?" Len added.

"Because non of you had lost a limb yet," Rip told Leonard before turning to Dez and answering her question. "Medical records. Nothing creepy, I assure you."

Deserey shrugged, and Leonard rolled his eyes. A blue beam of light scanned over where Leonard's hand should be. He let out a short, "ow." as the machine worked its magic. Like with the jacket in the fabrication room, a brand new hand began forming, popping up like something off a 3D printer – the bones forming and then raw muscles and veins and skin cells. On the screen next to the chair, an image similar to Leonard's hand appeared; the image became more detailed as his hand formed in real life – red, green, yellow, and blue lines formed on the image, indicating nerves and tissues.

When the process was over, Leonard wiggled his fingers, making an odd face.  
"Whoa," Deserey muttered.

Leonard shrugged and got to his feet. "Well, thanks for the hand, Captain, but I'm still pissed at you. Where was our backup? Half the team is gone…because of you." He took the Cold Gun from it's holster, aiming it at Rip, and unlike Dez he actually knew how to use it, so it wasn't likely he'd miss.

Rip didn't waver, though, much to his credit. Deserey, on the other hand, dropped the thermal core case in shock. The two men ignored her, as Rip hurried to defend himself. "Only if I'd have sent the other half in to save them, they'd be captured too, and where would we be, hm? Savage would have both halves of Firestorm, a dead Kendra and Carter on top of that, everything he wants. It would be the end to our little crusade, and, most likely, the world. So, before you pull that trigger, ask yourself: what would you have done?"

It was kind of amazing how well Rip could talk bullshit and make it sound good. Deserey wondered if he'd learned that from Time Master Druce as well.

Leonard scoffed. "That's a pretty cold calculation, Rip." Deserey was pretty sure he just wanted to make a cold pun. "Almost criminal, except we criminals have a code: you never leave one of your own behind."

"We will get them back," Rip promised. "Now, if Savage even hopes to create a Firestorm, first he's going to need a new one of these." Rip gestured at the thermal core in Deserey's hands. Leonard rolled his eyes, but he lowered his gun.

* * *

"Let me get this straight," Sara said, as she and the others gathered on the bridge. The thermal core was laying on the console in the center of the room, the case opened up so everyone could see the massive silver ball inside. The blonde assassin seemed about as pleased as Leonard was after they'd told her the news. The blonde folded her arms over her chest unhappily. "Let me get this straight. You had Kendra and I training for the next mission, when we should have been out there helping them."

Rip gave her an exasperated look in response, as if he had already grown tired of repeating this sentence. "We will help them, and our next mission is to get our compatriots back from Vostok."

"Who's to say they aren't already dead?" Kendra asked pessimistically.

"Vostok needs the professor alive in order to rebuild the thermal core," Rip guessed.

"And Ray and Rory?" Jax asked.

"And Carter?" Deserey added.

"Savage will keep them alive too," Rip said.

"As Leverage," Sara pointed out. "He'll torture them if Stein tries to hold out."

Rip shrugged, like that was the least of their worries, which Deserey found to be a bit unnerving. "We'll have to pray that he does." Dez rolled her eyes at the idea of praying for anything, but she held her tongue, as Rip went on. "If Savage's goal is to create his own Firestorm, then Stein himself will be key, the missing piece of the puzzle. And if Vostok figures out how to turn Stein's powers against us…then, I'm afraid the world is beyond saving."

Dez cringed, a razor blade sensation rolling over her spine. That last sentence made him sound a little too much like Druce for her liking.  
"Stein's a lot tougher than he looks," Jax said. "I mean, it'll take a lot to break him."

Rip pinched the bridge of his nose, looking frustrated beyond belief. "That's the good news. The bad news is that our compatriots are being held in an impenetrable Soviet gulag."

Dez blinked. "What, like a prison?"

Rip nodded in confirmation, and Deserey felt her stomach flip. Kendra and Jax looked as worried as she felt, but Sara and Leonard his their concern well. "Ray is going to die in there," Dez muttered.

* * *

 ** **So, all together this chapter has over 14K words... Yeah, that's a lot, (bet your glad I broke it into parts now) but I did promise it would be longer! So technically I delivered.****

 ** **Next chapter we'll visit Mick and Ray in the gulag, follow the other Legends as they try to rescue their friends, find out where Carter went, maybe get a visit from yet another new friend...We'll see when we get there. I might also do another interlude first.****

 ** **That's all for now, toodles!****

 ** **~ Elsie****


	36. Jail Time and Confrontations

Mick knew he would have his hands full the moment they stepped foot in the prison. Haircut immediately started waving at the inmates with a huge grin on his face, as if he didn't realize this _whole damn_ place was filled with _criminals_.

"Hey. Hi. Howdy. How you doing?" Mick rolled his eyes, already fed up with this guy.

"What the hell are you doing?" He should have known he'd only get a stupid response in return.

"Just being friendly," Ray told him. Friendly. In prison. Really? It only got worse when the tech billionaire added, "This must be where they keep the VIPs."

Mick scoffed. "This is prison, jack ass. There are no VIPs." Seriously. What did he think happened here after he and his vigilante buddies sent all the crooks to jail?

Ray ignored him, as they passed by some of the older inmates' cells. "Some of these guys have been here a while." He glanced inside the cell of one particularly sleazy looking man with matted grey hair and a tarnished blue hat. Mick could tell just from looking at the old bastard that he was trouble, and he had a few guesses about what had landed the guy in this hellscape. Murder. Probably rape. Mick wouldn't have been surprised if he was one of those sick bottom feeders that preyed on children. Bottom line: he wasn't someone a person like Ray should be talking to.

That didn't stop Haircut from getting a huge grin on his face and moving towards his cell. "Hey, maybe this guy knows where Stein and Carter are." He stopped walking for a moment, opening his mouth to say something to the old man; for a moment Mick panicked. Sure the sleazball was behind bars at the moment, but there was no telling what he might do later. And he'd tell Ray anything just so he could get him alone.

Mick stopped, ready to yank Haircut away from the cell and make him keep walking… He didn't have to. A second after they stopped, the guards yelled something in Russian (the Englishman's pill things must have warn off, because he couldn't understand a damn word they were saying now) and shoved them forward.

Mick glared at Ray, hoping the message would actually sink in if he just spelt it out for him. "The only thing you should be worrying about, Haircut, is lasting the night." Mick wasn't sure if he could babysit much longer than that. The team should have rescued him by then. Maybe Leonard would even get Mick out too.

Ray shook his head, apparently not realizing he had thoroughly been screwed over. "They need help. They're in trouble."

"News flash: so are we." The guards stopped them in front of a cell, and Mick got an overwhelming sense of familiarity as the warden tugged the door open. He'd gone through all of this so many times it was like second nature to him now. The musty smelling walls in the small room that barely fit one person, never mind a person of Mick's size. Mattresses ripped to shreds by moths and who knew what else. Rusted bars for a door. It was all…strangely homey.

He would probably be fine if the others took their time to get here… But there was no way in hell Ray was going to survive. At least they were in the same cell. That would make it easier to watch over him and make sure he didn't get himself into too much trouble.

The guards gripped them roughly and shoved them into the cell harshly so that they stumbled over themselves. Mick turned and growled at them, as they slammed the bar door shut.

Ray glanced at the thin mattresses on the bunk beds. "You think they'll bring us some blankets later?"

Mick stared at him for a moment. "Yeah, and they'll bring martinis and stripers that give you lap dances."

Ray stared back at him, actually having enough common sense to pick up on Mick's sarcasm. "Really?" he asked skeptically.

"No, you idiot!" Mick rolled his eyes. He moved over to the barred window at the back of the room, peering out into the yard. It wasn't much. Once you'd seen one you'd seen them all – a pathetic basketball court, weight lifting area, and a lame grassy space spread out a few feet with bleachers in every corner. Fences stood in between the solitary confinement (Mick had ended up there more than once. Good times…) and the space where the rest of the inmates would be.

He didn't particularly care, but Mick couldn't help thinking the professor was probably being held there. Maybe Bird Man too. Mick grunted and turned away from the window. Wherever they were they could deal with it themselves. Mick was already going to have his hands full with Haircut. He didn't need to worry about two jack asses that he couldn't even see.

Ray didn't share that mentality. He was already babbling on and on about how they could find someone to help them locate Bird Man and the Professor once they got to the yard. (Mick doubted that.)

At some point Mick had migrated to the top bunk. Ray was perched on the bottom bunk, still yammering away. At some point it had stopped being about Stein and Bird Man, and he had started spouting random nonsense Mick only half listened to.

He was already starting to get on his nerves, and it hadn't even been five minutes yet. Mick snapped when he brought up ants in Manhattan. "Do you ever stop talking?"

Haircut stopped for a moment, apparently realizing he was being annoying. One might assume that would be enough to shut it him the hell up. It was not. "Sorry, it just feels like we've been in here for ages. How long has it been anyways?"

Mick sighed. "It hasn't even been one minute yet, Haircut."

"Oh. Really?"

"Yeah." He paused for a moment before deciding it was best to be straight with him. "You're gonna die in here."

Ray seemed a bit offended by that idea. "What makes you think that?"

"'Cause I'm not gonna baby sit you the whole time we're in this dump," Mick said without a second thought.

"Well, what makes you think you'll have to baby sit me?" Ray asked.

Mick rolled his eyes. He couldn't believe he actually had to explain it to him. "Haircut, have you ever even so much as had a parking ticket before?"

He couldn't see him from where he was perched on his bunk, but Mick got the feeling Ray was scrunching his face up in confusion. "Uh, no. But what does that have to do with –"

"You don't belong in here, Haircut. These guys are gonna eat you alive as soon as you step foot on that yard." Mick nodded at the window where the yard was, even though Ray probably couldn't see him either. "That is unless you don't stop talking. Then, I'll kill you first."

"Pfft. No you won't."

"Wanna bet?"

"Uh, we could. But if we did and you killed me then I wouldn't be able to give you anything after you'd won the bet. Because I'd be dead."

Mick rolled his eyes. Fortunately, he had managed to nick a lighter from one of the guards before they'd tossed them in this joint. Unfortunately, as soon as Mick took it out and flicked it on Haircut got curious about it.

Ray poked his head up from the bottom bunk, tilting it to the side as he peaked over the railing of the bed at Mick. "Is that a lighter? Have you had that this whole time?"

Mick groaned. Determined not to look at the brown eyed man, Mick put all of his energy into focusing on the flame in the lighter. "I'm using it," Mick said, not answering Ray's questions.

"To do what?" Ray asked.

"To ignore you," Mick told him.

"Hm," Ray mused. "Well, you're not doing a very good job, considering you're still responding to me." Without looking away from the lighter, Mick reached up and shoved Ray back to the ground. As he hit the floor he let out a soft, "Omph." Mick smirked at that.

* * *

At some point Carter had fallen unconscious, and when he woke up he had no idea where he was. The room was spacious, but there was so much junk stuffed inside of it, it was hard to tell.

Random artifacts – helmets, swords, shields, staffs, knives, even a golden pallet that looked suspiciously like the Rosetta Stone – were placed on thick, wooden shelves in a very disorganized manner. Ugly paintings of gruesome wars, some of which Carter vaguely remembered being part of, were slapped sloppily on to the walls, covering just about every inch of it.

The place looked like a very disorganized museum. Ugh. Carter really hated those. They never got his face right in the paintings of Prince Khufu in the Egyptian exhibits. Not to mention the stories were always completely wrong. (Not that he planned the regular mortal people. Ancient Egypt had been thousands of years ago. They couldn't possibly keep all the details in order.)

Carter slowly rose to his feet, only to wince as he put pressure on his foot. He looked down at his leg to see it was bleeding, but someone had wrapped a bandage around the gun shot wound. (He had almost forgotten he'd been shot back at Luskavic Labs.) Carefully, Carter placed his foot on the ground, making sure he didn't put too much pressure on it.

He froze in his tracks a moment later, though. He'd never been able to explain how, but whenever Savage was near by he'd always been able to sense it; and vise versa Savage had always been able to tell when either he or Kendra were near by.

The sensation was something like electroshock, though increased ten fold. Carter was unable to move a muscle for several minutes, his eyes going wide as his heart rate picked up. He clenched his jaw shut tightly, and when he was able to move again he whirled around to find Savage standing in the door way.

He had grown his hair out a little past his shoulders, and his dark beard was trimmed a bit shorter. But it was, without a doubt, him. His eyes gave it all away, even if Carter hadn't spent hundred of life times memorizing his every facial feature.

It was the eyes that had always startled him the most, even before he had murdered them in their first life. The way they gleamed against the lighting in the room, just like the blades of the knives he so enjoyed killing them with.

Savage looked him dead in the eyes, a soft grin forming on his lips as if they were old friends. His tone suggested nothing of the sort. It was low, malicious, just like a serial murderer. (Did it count as serial murder if he'd just been killing the same two people over and over?) "Oh, you're awake. Good. It would have been boring to kill you while you were unconscious."

Carter couldn't breathe, too many emotions running through his veins at once. He was stuck in between the raging sea and a tornado of fear; it was a wonder he hadn't toppled over from it all. Carter struggled to somehow find his voice. Nothing came out.

In truth he had never been very brave or confident about any of this. He had only been pretending for Kendra's sake. He'd only been hoping because it was the last thing he had to hope for, the last thing he had to keep himself from falling apart and drowning in an ocean of despair. This mission had been his life raft.

Now, standing alone in front of Savage it all crumpled to dust before he even knew what was happening. Carter was paralyzed. His feet were glued to the floor, and his throat closed up, making it impossible to even breathe. Selfishly, he wished Kendra were there. At least with her he wouldn't have been dying alone.

Carter quickly changed his mind about that, however, as he remembered what he had overheard a few nights ago. It was safer for her to be far away from here. Carter wouldn't be able to protect her. He'd never been able to.

Savage stepped into the room, slowly inching closer to the Egyptian Prince. The action was enough to get Carter's legs working again. He stumbled back, trying to put as much distance between himself and Savage as he could. Pointless, really, considering he could have just tossed any number of these weapons and killed him from a distance just as easily.

Carter winced, accidentally putting too much pressure on his injured leg. He grit his teeth, grabbing hold of the nearest glass case to keep himself upright.

"You grow weaker and weaker with every lifetime. Pathetic, truly," Savage commented. He sounded annoyed, as if it were _his_ fault he'd died over two hundred times. A wave of hatred washed over him, and Carter latched on to it before it slipped away, hoping it would somehow provide him enough strength to get through this.

"Maybe you should let me kill you for the next two hundred life times," Carter snapped. "See if you're such a cocky bastard after that."

From the look in the immortal's eyes Carter was certain he was a dead man. (At least he'd go out on a high note this time.) But Savage had yet to make a move. Instead, he just stood there, glaring at Carter like he was one of those children on a plane that wouldn't stop screaming at the top of their lungs. "You will never be able to end my life, Khufu. Next to you I am a god, which is precisely why it will always be you who is destined to die by my hand."

Carter desperately held on to his hatred for the other man, refusing to give him the satisfaction of letting him know he scared the living shit out of him. Despite it being the last thing he wanted to envision, he let himself imagine Savage with Kendra.

He let himself think of what had happened between the two of them, let the mental images of her chained against the wall, desperately trying to fight her attacker off to no avail wash over him. Just so he could feel the anger. So he could put all his energy into hating Savage rather than be afraid of him.

Absently, he wondered if this is what Rory felt like all the time. That burning hot flame of rage, fanned by the winds of hate, which only strengthened the fire, causing it to burn brighter, hotter. Carter couldn't imagine feeling that way all the time. His vision was already blurring with the color red. He'd never be able to see straight if this were a constant in his life. Then again, maybe it was already a constant.

This had been building up for quite some time. Since the first time Savage had taken their lives away from them. He'd been shoving it down for Kendra's sake, trying to protect her, trying to save her further despair by making the best of it.

But that had been useless. Pointless. It didn't do anything. It didn't save her. Savage still hurt her. Over and over. At this point he didn't even give two shits what happened to himself, as long as Kendra was safe. Except she wouldn't be. Neither of them would be. Ever. Not as long as Vandal Mother Fucking Savage was alive.

Carter clenched his fists at his side, sure that his skin was going to burn right off from the rage he had summoned from the deep pits of denial. "How many times have you done it?"

Savage had the audacity to look confused for a moment before putting on a smug smirk. "How many times have a killed you?"

"No. How many times have you…" He faulted her for a moment. "How many times have you raped her?" The words left a bitter taste in his mouth. Somehow saying it out loud made it all the more real, and it left his guts twisting violently.

He wanted to punch Savage's teeth down his throat, but he knew he would never get close enough to do it. Even if he wasn't injured he still would have been useless against him. That was the most infuriating part of all of this. Carter couldn't do anything about it, and Savage knew it.

Savage's smirk widened, as if he were actually _proud_ of his actions. "Once in nearly every life time," Savage admitted. "Though rape is such a nasty word for it. It is merely intercourse in which we skipped the constant." That was just pouring gasoline on the fire that was Carter's rage.

"Yeah," Carter said, his voice sounding a bit off even to himself. "Well, maybe you're a bit slow since you haven't gotten to the twenty-first century yet, but sex without consent is called rape, you dumb shit." It was probably foolish, pushing his luck so much, but in the moment he didn't care. He had gotten in too deep, and now all he could see was that blinding rage.

Savage rolled his eyes like Carter was being unreasonable. "Oh, consent is such a waste of time. Why bother?"

Carter glared at him, practically shaking with fury. It took all of his self control not to lunge at the sick bastard. Besides, with his leg being injured he'd never be able to take him. "Shut up," Carter hissed.

Savage smirked as he realized he was getting to him. He stepped further into the room, circling around some of the artifacts so he was standing behind him; and Carter grit his teeth, twisting his injured leg the wrong way as he whirled around, trying to keep the psychopath in his line of vision.

"I have already killed you in this life time," Savage went on, not even remotely put off by Carter's lame attempt at a threat. "But thanks to Rip Hunter bringing you back from some point in the future I get to do it twice." He sounded like a giddy child on Christmas.

For a moment Carter lost his grip on the rage. Fear trespassed his mind before he could stop it, and he worried Savage knew about it. But then Savage flashed another one of his sickening grins, and with his next words the rage came racing back to him. "And then perhaps I will pay Cha-Ara a little visit and we can…get reacquainted."

"Don't touch her!" Carter shouted, throwing a glare Savage's way.

"How would you stop me?" He didn't sound remotely worried about being stopped. Probably because he knew he _couldn't_ be. He could do whatever he wanted, because no one could stop him, not even Rip and the Legends.

Savage took Carter's silence as invitation to push more buttons. "I would be doing her a favor." Despite knowing the odds were against him, he found himself attacking Savage.

His wings sprouted from his back, his feet lifting off the ground, as he flew towards the immortal soon to be tyrant. He managed to land a hit, causing Savage to stumble slightly before he took hold of Carter's arm and tossed him across the room.

Carter slammed into a wall of glass cases, shattering them on impact and knocking the artifacts to the floor.

* * *

Leonard had been avoiding the others, namely Rip. He was very vocal about blaming him for getting their team mates captured and thrown into the gulag; Leonard had never voiced it, but Deserey couldn't help feeling like he blamed her as well.

She was the reason Mick had gotten taken, after all. If she hadn't hit him with her sand nightmare then maybe he would have had a fighting chance of getting away. Also the fact that she had literally shot his hand off. That was another reason for him to be bitter at her.

Aside from that, Michael was still locked away in the brig, impatiently waiting for the Legends decision on just what they planned to do with him. He was very loud, too, so it was hard to forget about him. He annoyed Rip more than anything, and the two had gotten into more than one argument.

The dog from Carter's past life had been thrown into deep despair, missing her human now that he had been captured by Savage. Kendra stayed with the dog, doing her best to take care of her. But the poor four legged creature refused to even eat or drink anything. All she did was lay on the floor at the foot of Carter's bed, head between her paws, making pouty eyes.

Sara had taken to demolishing the dummies in the training room in order to get her frustrations out. No one dared to bother her, lest they be decapitated too.

Jax's condition had become rather critical, as Vostok and her band of mad scientists tortured Stein for information, thanks to his psychic connection to the professor. He had gotten rather sleep deprived during the first night of their team mates' kidnapping, and he looked terrible because of it.

Deserey tried to lose herself in her art in order to distract herself from all the worry and self deprecation – it had started giving her a headache. Only, she could never stay focused on any one drawing for longer than three seconds before the dark thoughts settled in.

It was all she could do to keep herself away from razors and knives, to ignore the urge to attempt to get Gideon to give her pills again.

She started walking aimlessly around the ship, when all else failed… which eventually lead to her getting lost. (Embarrassing, really. She had been on the ships for weeks now, and she was still getting lost. Though, in her defense all the halls looked exactly the same.)

On the first day/second night their friends were stuck in prison, Deserey was walking through the halls, searching for the bridge, when she ran into Jax. He was walking in the opposite direction she was, slumped over slightly as he trudged along, yawning like crazy.

Deserey spoke slowly, hoping she could get some hints about where she was without letting him know she was all turned around. She didn't want to admit it to him, worried it might prompt some teasing. "Hey, Jax. Uh, where you headed?"

Jax stopped walking, flashing her a small smirk. "Why? You lost or something?"

Dez scoffed, laughing in a manner that was much too obvious. "Me? Lost? Pfft, no! Why would you think that?" She folded her arms over herself, leaning against the wall in an overly casual act…. Then, she fell right back to the floor, the wall moving out from under her.

Jax snorted, moving to help her to her feet. "Well, I guess you found it," he muttered.

Deserey frowned at him. "Huh? Found what?" She turned her head to see what he was referring to, letting out a sharp gasp. "Oh my… What the… Holy shit."

To say she was stunned was an understatement. Behind the wall she had been leaning on, there was a large, twenty by twenty room hidden. White marble floors were polished so that she could see her reflection in it. The walls were painted with a beautiful pearl color; and at the back of the room there was a small set of stars leading up to a little platform.

On the platform sat a cluster of easels, each with a blank canvas perched in it, a table full of paints and brushes at the center of it all. Scattered throughout the room were shelves of more art supplies: buckets of paint, pencils, sketch pads, brushes, pens, etc.

Sitting on pedestals were sculptors, Deserey's designs from when she had been dabbling in pottery. On the walls hung various paintings and drawings of Deserey's, some of which she had discarded long ago and forgotten about.

She whirled around, staring at Jax with wide eyes, still stumbling over her words a bit. "What…How…Did – did you do this?" She pointed at the room.

Jax grinned, chuckling a little at her reaction. He gave her a half shrug, leaning in the door way. "Some of it, but it's mostly Ray's doing. The whole thing was sorta his idea."

Deserey opened her mouth to say something, only to find she was utterly speechless. She turned back to the room, her hand covering her mouth. "Wow," she managed. "I mean… What the fuck?"

"Pretty awesome, right?" Jax said.

Deserey nodded, letting out a short laugh. "Hell, yeah." She walked further into the room, examining the art work. "How did you guys get these?"

"Well, they're not all originals. Most of them are replicas fabricated by Gideon," Jax said. "We, uh, might have had to do a bit of internet stalking."

Deserey laughed at that. "Does Rip know about this?" She gestured around the room.

Jax nodded. "It was Ray's idea so of course he asked Rip permission before changing one of his storage room's into an art studio. And I guess I'm the mechanic now, so he let me in on it too."

"Wow," Dez said again. She couldn't remember the last time she had smiled this much. There was a warm feeling in her heart that she was unfamiliar with. Something she found rather comforting.

"Oh, yeah, there's one more feature about this room that I think you're really gonna like." Jax walked over to a panel on the wall, pressing a button. Instantly, the set up of the room changed. The pedestals and easels stayed where they were, but the flooring and walls flickered for a moment, switching so that it looked as though Jax and Dez were standing in the middle of a beach on a bright, sunny day.

"Ha! What?" Deserey shouted, laughing once more and covering her mouth with her hand again. "This is amazing!"

The scenery flickered for a moment before turning back to the white marble and pearl. "There's still a kink or two to work out but…" Jax shrugged, grinning broadly. Dez grinned back. She would have complimented it more, but suddenly Jax hunched over in pain, grimacing terribly as he stumbled.

Deserey ran over to his side, frowning. "Jax! Are you okay?" She grabbed his arm, hoping to steady him.

He nodded, righting himself. "Yeah," he said, wincing slightly. "They're really prying at him in there."

Deserey frowned, as Jax let out another tired yawn. She was worried for both him and Martin. Before she could voice any of her concerns, though, Jax said, "Well enjoy the studio. I'm gonna go get a sedative from Gideon." He started to leave before turning around again. "Oh, and the bridge is two lefts and down the hall."

Dez blushed, not even questioning how he knew that was the room she'd been looking for. She was too embarrassed that he'd figured it out. "Thanks, Jax. For the room and the directions."

* * *

Later that night Deserey found Leonard in his room. He was sitting in the chair at the desk in the back of the room, one leg propped over his knee. His head was resting in the palm of his hand.

Dez gave him a little wave. "Hey…"

Leonard barely looked up at her to respond. "…Hey."

He'd been thinking about the recent events rather in depth since getting back from Luskavic Labs. Rip didn't exactly seem to be in a hurry to get any of their friends out of the gulag. Why would he? It wasn't like he actually gave a shit about any of them.

So, Leonard had been trying to think of something to save them, namely his partner, but Gideon was being less than helpful, claiming that Rip wanted everyone to wait until the morning before they started plotting their rescue mission. What a douche.

Deserey couldn't help but notice that he'd switched out his parka for a leather jacket. Recalling that navy blue was a color of control and composure, Dez wondered if he had changed his attire because he felt he were spiraling.

It was possible, all things considered. His partner in crime had just been taken, Rip had ignored his request for backup. Never mind that little trip to his past. In fact, he had been wearing the leather jacket since that night, Dez realized. That last thought had the sea from the night Rip first gathered the team refilling her lungs, forgetting all about the giddiness Jax and Ray's surprise had given her earlier.

Deserey looked down at her feet, tugging at a strand of her hair as her eyes started to water lamely. "I'm sorry," she mumbled.

Leonard glanced at her, sitting upright when he caught sight of the state she was in. "For what? Shooting my hand off?" Somehow he knew that wasn't quite it, but he kept going anyway. "It's fine… just maybe don't touch my gun, alright? You've got a terrible shot."

Deserey shook her head, not meeting his eyes. She tugged on her hair some more, so much so that Leonard wondered how it wasn't hurting her scalp. "I – no. I mean, that too, but I…"

She started to cry, feeling stupid for breaking down in front of him. Dez tugged at her hair, still not looking at him. "It was an accident, I swear. I didn't mean to see any of it."

Leonard stared at her, the gears in his head spinning wildly. He stood up and crossed the room, closing the space between them. "Dez," he said slowly, gently pulling her hands away from her hair, "what are you talking about? What did you see?"

"I…" She faltered over her words, looking worried. "I saw…I saw you…" She shifted, pulling her hands away from Leonard and tugging at her hair again.

He pushed them down again. "Dez, stop that. Tell me what's wrong?" It was starting to get a bit awkward. Leonard had never been the touchy feely type, and he hated skirting around the point. Little did he know things were about to get even more awkward.

Deserey pursed her lips. She squinted her eyes shut, trying to keep herself from crying even more and looking like an idiot. "I saw you when you went back to your old house," Dez said quickly. Best to just get it over with. Rip it off just like a Band-Aid.

Leonard blanched. He took a step back, nodding slowly. It was sort of like running face first into a glass window and then proceeding to bust through said glass window and get cut up all to hell from the broken shards.

Deserey finally looked up at him, her eyed a bit red and puffy from her crying. She wiped her eyes, heart hammering in her chest as she saw the blank expression on his face. "Are you mad?" When he didn't respond, Dez really started to panic. "Oh, god. You are. You're mad, I can tell."

Dez started tugging at her hair again, yanking on it harder. Leonard didn't stop her. He didn't move. He didn't say anything. He just stood there, staring vacantly.

Her breathing became labored, and the walls suddenly looked as if they were closing in on her. She tripped and fell, backing herself against the wall, tugging on her hair until she'd started yanking a few strands out of her scalp, her breathing raged and labored. She looked up at Leonard, begging. "Please. Please, say something. Anything. Even if it's rude and hurtful. Yell, scream. Just… please say something!"

Deserey had never been able to handle the silent treatment very well. She'd always get thrown into an anxiety attack whenever it happened.

Leonard glanced down at her. Normally, he wouldn't have felt any sort of sympathy towards her in a moment like this. Other people's emotional issues weren't his problem, after all. There might have even been a time, before the Flash, that he would have even gone so far as to kill her for invading his privacy.

But for some unfathomable reason, Leonard couldn't quite bring himself to be so indifferent. He blamed being on this ship for so long. It was making him soft. Len rolled his eyes, taking a deep breath. "I'm not mad."

Deserey stopped tugging at her hair, looking up at him. Her eyes were glassy and watery, but even so she managed to raise a skeptical eyebrow. "You're not?"

"No," Leonard admitted quietly. "I just said that so you'd stop spazzing. I'm pissed." He paused, glancing away from her with his next words. Somehow looking at her made it even worse. "But I can't say anything that'll make you un-see what you saw, so what's the point in yelling at you?"

Dez frowned. "I – um…" She looked down. Leonard glanced around the room. It was one of those rare, irritating moments when he didn't quite know what to do with himself. He'd done his best to ignore anything and everything to do with Lewis Snart, especially considering recent events. Yet he was still pissing Leonard off from beyond the grave. Bastard.

Deserey slowly got to her feet again, titling her head to the side, wearing this…look. Something Leonard, much to his annoyance, couldn't place.

"It's –"

"Don't," Leonard snapped. He wasn't entirely sure what she'd been about to say, but he was sure it was one of those stupid things people liked to say in order to make themselves feel better. He didn't need that. "Just…forget about it, okay?"

"…No." Deserey shook her head. Her demeanor had completely changed now. She had gone from a complete train wreck to stern mother in the count of three seconds; she had her hands folded over herself, staring at Len, her eyes hard as rocks.

Leonard was so stunned he actually met her gaze. No one ever spoke to him like that. Not even Mick or Lisa. "What?"

"No," Deserey said, her voice much more sturdy now, if not a little tired. "You're acting like it doesn't matter."

"It doesn't," he said. Why the hell were they still talking about this? There were more important things to worry about.

"It does," Deserey said.

Leonard rolled his eyes. "I'm not the only one on this ship with daddy issues."

"So?" She shrugged, as if his point were completely irrelevant. "That doesn't mean yours aren't important too."

Leonard stared at her, an odd feeling developing. It was how he imagined being suffocated by a plastic bag might feel: tightness in the chest, vision impaired, spikes of panic throughout the spine. "I'm not your charity case. Don't act like you care just because you feel guilty."

She eyed him, somehow looking exhausted and stern all at once. "You started it when you and the others made a suicide watch for me. You don't want me to care about you, stop caring about me."

"…Whatever." He spun around, desperately trying to keep up his cool demeanor. Leonard flopped down on his bed, propping one leg over the other; he fiddled with the ring on his pinkie finger. Somehow that always calmed his nerves in these rare moments when he let something get to him.

The only problem was he could still feel Dez's eyes watching him intensely, so it didn't do much in this instance. He glanced up at her, tight jawed, muscles tensed, growing more than little frustrated. "Did you need something?"

Deserey shrugged again. She shifted for a moment, then slowly came forward and sat on the foot of his bed. He watched her curiously. She looked tired now that she had stopped flipping out, her shoulders dropping slightly as if her muscles were weakening. Still, she managed to say, "You're deflecting."

"Excuse me?" Leonard said, sitting up a bit. He was suffocating again.

She shrugged, letting out a soft yawn. "It's fine. We don't have to talk about it. But um…" She trailed off, practically falling asleep even though she was still sitting up. "Uh…"

Leonard spotted the out and latched on to it immediately. "Dez, go to sleep."

"Hm? Yeah, good plan," she yawned. "Scoot over."

He blinked. "I didn't really mean in here."

"I have a very mild case of narcolepsy," Dez told him, yawning again. "It really only effects me after an anxiety attack, but when it does I fall asleep almost immediately. I know you're probably pissed at me still but I'm not gonna make it back to my room before passing out. So, scoot over."

Leonard stared at her, completely baffled. "You do realize that I'm one of CCPD's most wanted? I derailed a train once. I could kill you if I wanted to, and I could hide the body somewhere no one would ever find it."

"Hm? Spooky. Now, scooch." Dez waved her hand at him, motioning for him to move over. He rolled his eyes but complied. Deserey laid down next to him, curling up into herself, closing her eyes. It was the most peaceful he had seen her since they'd entered the ship. The sight had that suffocating sensation returning once more…except this time it wasn't quite like that. It was more pleasant than that.

"I killed him." It came out before he even knew he was saying it. Before he could stop himself. That would have been bad enough, but there was also a bit more emotion in his voice than he would have liked there to be.

Deserey's eyes shot open, and she dropped herself up on her elbow. "What? Who?"

Leonard hesitated, fiddling with the ring again. "My…" Well, dad wasn't really the right word, but he couldn't think of a more accurate one. "My father." He wasn't sure why he was telling her. The only people who knew besides Lisa and himself were the Flash and his friends. And that was only because they'd been there when it happened. Leonard hadn't even told Mick yet.

Deserey looked at him, her eyes doing that watery/glassy thing. It was nerve wracking how distracting that was. Leonard focused all his attention on twisting the ring around his finger. "He put a bomb in my sister's neck so I shot him with the Cold Gun…and killed him."

He thought she was going to say something stupid, but instead she leaned forward, wrapping one arm around him and laying her head against his chest. Instinctively, he tensed; and Dez pulled away immediately. "Sorry, I forgot you don't like touching…"

Len glanced at her. Her face was a little red, and she was biting her lip awkwardly. Leonard found himself shrugging off his initial discomfort. He shook his head. "No, it's fine." Deserey nodded slowly, gently placing her head back down and looping her arm around him again before drifting off to sleep. It was actually sort of comforting… Somehow.

* * *

 **These chapters seem to be getting longer and longer Sorry, hopefully that's not a problem, I just get carried away sometimes. I hope you enjoy the chapters despite the length.** **I was going to do an interlude first, but then I really wanted to do this chapter so… yeah.** **That's all for now, toodles!** **~ Elsie**


	37. Interlude 5

Getting ambushed by questions and hugs as soon as she walked through the door was not the way Anita had been expecting to be greeted when she walked in her front door. But that was exactly what happened.

She had barely put one foot in the door, before her brother was pouncing on her, practically squeezing the life out of her. Her dad wasn't far behind. He looked frantic. "Anita! Where the hell have you been? I've been worried sick! Are you alright?"

Anita pushed her brother off of her, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, I was just staying after school. What's with you guys? I've stayed gone for three hours before!"

Daren and Dad stared at her as if she had grown three heads in addition to the one she already had. "Anita, what are you talking about?" Dad asked, looking worried. He placed the palm of his hand over her forehead, checking to see that she didn't have a temperature. Anita scoffed and pushed him off. What the heck was wrong with them?

"You've been gone for a lot longer than just three hours," Daren told her.

Anita stared back at him, shaking her head. That couldn't be. Oculus had said three hours. He said he had brought her back the same day that he had taken her from. She was about to call her brother crazy and insist that he was wrong, but before she could Oculus burst through the door looking rather flustered, like he had run all the way here. He glanced at Anita, apparently not noticing her family yet. Trying to catch his breath and speak at the same time, Oculus said, "I was wrong. It's three days, not three hours."

Antia's eyes widened, and she screamed, "What?! But you said -"

"I know what I said! I was there!" Oculus said.

Anita's father glared harshly at Oculus. He stepped in front of his daughter, putting a protective hand up to shield her from the strange man. "Who the fuck are you?" he demanded, his voice booming, threatening.

Oculus flinched at his tone. This is what he had been so afraid of when he'd taken Anita on that little time jump. Parents could be so protective of their young. It's why he preferred not to be around them. Just to avoid confrontation and danger. "Erm...I, uh..."

"Dad! It's okay, he's harmless," Anita said. She moved around her father's tense form, as he looked like he might be about to deck Oculus in the nose. She really didn't need that. Anita stood in front of her father, knowing he wouldn't dare hurt her to get to the other man. "He's not some creepy. I promise. We just went traveling."

"What?" Dad hissed, glaring daggers at Oculus. Everything in his mind was being twisted so that it was much more inappropriate than it actually was. "Where?"

"It's...actually more of a when really," Oculus mumbled quietly. He flinched again, as Darryl's glare intensified. The father didn't really seem to care about where or when the duo had gone, he only cared that his daughter had run off with some stranger who was several years older than her; and in his mind she was probably coerced into it.

Daren's eyes lit up as he heard Oculus though. His young mind hadn't picked up on anything that could be potentially dangerous, as he was a bit naive for an eleven year old boy. "Wait, when? Like time travel?" He paused, then pointed at his sister, jealous. "Hold on, why does she get to go time traveling?"

Anita rolled her eyes. Darryl shook his head vigorously. "She doesn't! No one does. Whatever this is, it stops now."

Anita scoffed, throwing her arms out in protest. She stomped her foot childishly. "That is so not fair, Dad! He's not even a bad person!"

Oculus shrank away, as Darryl kept his death stare fixed on him. He looked very small under the other man's glare, but that didn't make Anita's father go any easier on him. Darryl would have chewed him out and then tossed him to the streets, but before he could they were interrupted for the second time.

The whole house shook violently, causing everyone to stumble quite a bit. From outside Anita heard a deep growl, which rumbled in her ear drums, forcing her to slap her hands over her ears. Daren looked at her, eyes wide, breathing a bit heavy. He had always been a bit sensitive to loud noises.

Anita ignore him and ran to the window to see what was happening, despite both her father and Oculus yelling at her to get away from it. She pushed back the curtain, gasping at what she seen going on over at their neighbor's house.

A massive, thirty foot being loomed over their house, a large chunk of their roof clutched in his big, meaty fist from where he had apparently ripped it off. He had sharp teeth as thick as mountains, a triangular fin poking out from his back, his skin smooth and grey. Beady eyes peered into the hole in the roof. He was a big shark man.

A round of gunfire shot off, the shots being so loud she could feel them in her bones. Daren yelped at the noise, cupping his hands over his ears and squinting his eyes tightly. Anita couldn't see who shot the gun though. The shark man started saying something, so Anita opened the window a bit so she could hear.

His voice was low, raspy, the way a villain might sound in a cartoon. The words were spat in a reverberating growl. "Where is the Flash? I know he's here! I can smell him!" More gun shots. The shark man bellowed out a earth rattling roar. "Where is he?"

From the corner of her eye, Anita spotted a flicker of yellow lightening. It was hard to see him from the angle she was at, especially in the dark. (When had night fallen? Anita could have sworn it had been daylight out when she'd first gotten home.) She ran for the front door, as she heard the Flash shout, "Right here!"

"Anita!" her father shouted, as she flung the door open and ran outside to get a better look. "Get back here, now!"

Anita ignored him. She dashed across the grass, the ground rumbling under her feet as the shark man stomped around to face the Scarlet Speedster. Skidding to a stop, Anita crouched behind a vehicle that had been parked on the curb.

"Flash!" the shark man growled. Anita could see him much better from the streets. He had abs and pecs like a human man. His arms looked human as well, except for the color; and he had legs like humans, too, except large, floppy fins took place of his feet. He towered over the Flash, making Central City's hero look little more than a puny ant at a picnic. "Zoom wants you dead!"

Anita wasn't sure who Zoom was, but she guessed he must have been a pretty nasty character if a giant man shark was taking orders from him.

The Flash shrugged, a bit out of breath. He didn't appear to care very much about the threat from the shark man. He must have gotten death threats a lot with his line of work. "Yeah, I know. Then, you get to go home, right? Well, guess what, man. The breaches that Zoom used to bring you here, they're all gone. I closed 'em all for good."

Anita figured the Flash must have been bluffing. Either that or he and his friends must have figured out a way to open them again later on, because Anita remembered Ralph and Julian saying something about breaches and how Cisco disappeared through one in the future.

"There's no more Zoom," Flash went on. "There's no way back to your earth." The shark man growled again, shifting his weight a little, apparently taken aback by the speedster's words. "You're gonna be trapped here for a very long time."

The shark man stood in the center of the road, a rumble escaping his throat as he glared down at the Flash. The Scarlet Speedster took that as his cue to jump into action.

He sped forward, circling the giant shark man, his lightening zipping behind him as he ran. Anita heard static as the electricity began charging up.

She wasn't sure what the Flash was planning, but whatever it was he never got to enact it. With another angry growl, the shark man whacked the speedster across the road, slamming him into the car Anita was hiding behind.

Anita jumped as the Flash collided with the vehicle, his body making a loud _smack!_ She could have sworn she heard something snap too, like his bones were broken.

The shark man stomped over to the Flash, his massive form looming threatening, his footsteps shaking the ground below him.

Anita let out a soft whimper, as the shark man drew closer. Her hands shook, her blood turning to ice. Suddenly, it didn't seem like a very good idea to come out here.

She could see the Flash from under the car, on his back crawling away from the shark man, panting a little. Anita was pretty sure the shark guy was going to kill him. And if that weren't bad enough, a flicker of light brought everyone's attention over to the Dunet house.

Daren had evidently recovered from his noise sensitivity, because he had brought out his camera and was standing in the middle of the front yard. He snapped a few more pictures of the man shark, the camera flash blinding the thing for a moment, causing him to growl angrily.

Anita's guts twisted violently. Her arms and legs turned into jello; her throat closed up as she watched the shark man turn towards her brother, looking pretty murderous.

The Flash struggled to get to his feet, but he must have been hurt pretty badly because he was having a lot of trouble with it. Anita's father was shouting for the siblings to get back inside, but neither of them listened to him.

Daren froze, watching the shark man approach with wide eyes. Anita acted without thinking. She ran out into the street, picking up the largest rock she could find as she went; Anita tossed the rock as hard as she could, smacking the shark man on the leg harmlessly.

"Hey, Don Lino!" Anita shouted. "Stay away from my brother!"

Anita's body was numb, as the shark man turned his beady eyes on her. She couldn't move, her throat closing up on her. It felt like she was suffocating, frozen in place.

With the shark man's gaze set on her, Anita began to realize just how dumb what she did was.

She didn't have any weapons or super powers. There was no way she could take on some monstrous beast like this. He would crush her in seconds, probably only needing to use one finger to do it.

 _Kind of wish I thought of that before calling him a character from Shark Tales,_ Anita thought uselessly.

Her knees buckled under her. Everything she had eaten in the last three days was threatening to spill out all over the ground.

The shark man sauntered over, raising one meaty fist to smack her.

Before he could touch her though, a gust of wind blew through Anita's hair, and in the blink of an eye both she and her brother were standing on the porch of their house next to their father.

The Flash stumbled to a stop in front of them, probably still a little disoriented from crashing into the car. He glanced at Anita, as he father frantically checked over her and her brother. "Don Lino?"

Anita shrugged, too shook up to form proper words at the moment. It didn't really matter anyway. The Flash turned away from her and back to the shark man a few seconds later.

It looked like they were preparing for a show down, but just then tired squealed on the asphalt. The shark man let out a low growl, first looking annoyed, then angry, then scared.

He glared at the Flash. "You might be fast, but not as fast as I am in water. You're never gonna find me, Flash!"

With that proclamation, the shark man charged down the street, leaving massive craters wherever his feet touched.

The Flash let out a tired sigh, as the beast took off. He looked like he wanted to chase after him, but instead he just sat in one of the chairs on the porch, only to shoot up a second later, looking at Darryl awkwardly. "Sorry, can I sit here?"

Darryl snorted. "Seeing as how you just saved my kids' lives, you can take my whole damn house if you wanted."

The Flash nodded, still panting a bit from his injuries. "Okay. I mean…I'm not gonna take your house, but okay. Uh, yeah. Thanks…" He sat down. Who knew the Flash was such a bumbling nerd?

A second later, three cars sped down the road. Two of them went barreling through at dangerous speeds. The third abruptly pulled into the Dunet drive.

A man and a woman got out of the car, both holding pistols at their sides. The woman looked around the area, while the man called out to the Flash. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good," the Flash called back, rubbing his shoulder. "I think he might have broken a few things, but I'm good." After a moment he stood up. He glanced at the Dunets, suddenly serious hero again instead of awkward geek. "So, I'm off to find a giant shark. Stay in school kids! And listen to your parents. And, uh, eat your veggies! Bye!" Or maybe not so serious...

He zipped off around the corner, the only sign he had ever been on their doorstep at all being that trail of yellow lightening he left behind.

The man and woman from the car had taken to talking to Joe West, who had since come outside. "Telepathic gorillas? Giant shark men? What's next big scary, homicidal crocodiles?" Mr. West was saying.

The man from the car glanced at the woman. "We don't have any killer crocs do we? Please say no."

"Yeah," Joe nodded. "Please say no."

The woman shrugged. "Not that I'm aware of, no."

The men simultaneously sighed in relief. That was all Anita got to hear of that conversation, though, because a moment later, her father was ushering her and her brother inside.

As soon as the door was closed, the siblings were being scolded. "What was that? You could have been killed! Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? You're both lucky the Flash was here tonight, because if he wasn't…" He let out a frustrated sigh. "Don't ever let me catch you doing anything like that again, you hear me?"

Anita and Daren shared a look with one another. Daren was sort of shaken, but living in Central City one tended to get use to weird and scary situations. (They didn't happen often in the suburbs, but every so often something strange would occur on their block, like their street was a magnet for weirdness or something.)

Anita had also grown accustomed to the weirdness, both because she lived in Central and because her short time traveling with Oculus was just as strange if not more so.

At the thought of him, Anita frowned, looking around to realize he wasn't there anymore. He must have run off when all the chaos had started. That kind of stung a bit.

She shook her head, turning her attention back to her father. "Sure, Dad. You won't ever see us do anything like that again."

Needless to say, that wasn't the last time the Dunet siblings did something stupid. In fact, it was the first of many dumb decisions they would make. After all, he hadn't told them to stop. He just told them not to let him see them do it

* * *

 ** **So, we were a bit over due for an interlude. I'm not really sure, uh, what the heck this is but um...****

 ** **On a whim I thought, "Yeah you know what? The Dunets**** ** **can live next to the Wests, that'll be cool."****

 ** **Then I thought, "Hey, you know what would be really fun? If the Dune t**** ** **siblings had a show down with King Shark."****

 ** **I'm not sure if the Flash episodes match up quite right with where I'm at in LoT but whatever. It's fanfic. We can pretend right?****

 ** **Um... so yeah. That just happened. I'm gonna go re-evaluate my life now****

 _ **That's all for now, toodles!**_

 _ **~ Elsie**_


	38. The Bratva and the Flash

Leonard didn't remember falling asleep, but when he opened his eyes Gideon had informed him it was now mid-afternoon - according to Siberia's time frame anyways.

So, he figured he had either spaced out or dozed off for a few hours. Either way it was annoying coming to in the middle of the afternoon, considering Rip had said they'd come up with a plan to rescue their team in the _morning_.

Why hadn't anyone come to get them? Or better yet, why hadn't Gideon woken them once morning had hit? It wasn't like computers needed sleep. There was no excuse as to why she couldn't have just set an alarm or something!

Deserey was still snoozing next to him, curled up against his side. Leonard glanced down at her, taking note of how peaceful she looked. It was the calmest state he'd ever seen her in, like all her anxieties and worries weren't an issue any more. As if she wasn't completely depressed and suicidal. It was nice.

Though he probably would have appreciated it much better if she hadn't been sleeping directly on top of his arm, causing a distinct tingling to run up and down his limb.

Leonard grimaced slightly as the tingly spikes jabbed at his fingers, wondering just how the hell he'd managed to get his arm trapped underneath Dez's form when his hand had been nowhere near her before they'd fallen asleep.

Still, he didn't bother trying to remove his arm, lest he wake her. He wasn't sure why he even cared. If she were anyone else he would have already thrown her to the floor and kicked her out, especially after she'd just confessed to spying on him, accidentally or not.

Len shrugged it off, deciding it probably just had something to do with the suicide watch group he and the others had put together for her. If she was sleeping, then she couldn't run off somewhere and try killing herself while he was busy trying to save his partner. (And the others.)

Deserey shifted a little in her sleep, and Leonard winced again as the movement sent a ripple of needles running over his arm. She mumbled something in her sleep. At first Leonard couldn't make it out, but then he heard something like, "But your honor, how can I have robbed that bank if I was already wearing the prison jump suit?"

Leonard raised an eyebrow, watching as Deserey woke with a small, startled gasp. She glanced up at him, smiling sheepishly. "Someday I'm going to have to finish that dream to find out if I'm guilty or not."

Len smirked, rolling his hand around to get his circulation back as she sat up and stretched her arms. She glanced at him. "Sorry, did I put your arm to sleep?"

"You also shot it off with my own gun," Leonard reminded her.

Dez winced, covering her face with her hands. "I'm really never going to live that one down..."

"Nope," Leonard agreed. He eyed her briefly, an odd sensation forming in his gut as he watched her. It sort of felt the same way his hand did when it fell asleep, those prickly needles flailing around, poking everything. It was uncomfortable, but somehow not exactly entirely unpleasant. Mostly just unfamiliar.

He filed all his thoughts on the matter away for some other time. Instead, he changed the subject, finding his pinkie ring on the bed side table and twisting it on to his finger. "So, your dream self is a convict?"

Deserey shrugged, pushing her curly hair out of her face. "Maybe. Pretty sure I was framed though." She grabbed the hair tie from around her wrist, pulling her hair up; though one strand fell back in her face during the process.

Something about that had the needles returning much more fiercely. Leonard glanced away from her, turning his ring on his finger; miraculously, he still managed to speak with his usual, calm drawl. "That's what they all say."

Deserey laughed, and Len flicked his eyes up to meet hers again, unable to stop the small grin from forming on his own lips. "Is that what you say?" she asked him.

He shrugged. "I don't say anything. I just break out."

Dez snorted. "I'm sure you do, Scofield."

Leonard watched her for a moment. Her smile. The gentle way she kept attempting to push that one strand from her eyes. Her big, soft brown eyes that seemed to hold all the darkness in the world; though in that moment they were much brighter, like the darkness hadn't quite hit them yet.

The needles jamming into his gut rising up to his chest and briefly causing his breath to falter, which Leonard found quite irksome. He shoved the feeling down again, this time much more forcibly, returning his thoughts to Dez.

It was a pity, really, that she considered herself repulsive when she looked like that. Belatedly, Leonard wondered who in the world had made her feel that way.

Dez looked back at him, her cheeks turning a little red. "What?" She lowered her head slightly, her eyes still looking up at him, as she brushed the strand of hair out of her eyes again.

Len mentally scolded himself, realizing he'd been staring. Shoving all his thoughts about her to the back of his head, he said, "Nothing." He tilted his head towards the door. "We should go find Rip so A) I can kill him for not keeping his word and B) we can rescue Mick."

"And the others," Dez reminded him.

Len made a face. "Eh."

* * *

The others were waiting for them in the bridge. Which Deserey knew because she could hear Sara from halfway down the hall. "We just lost half our team! Is now really the time to be making bets about -"

"Making bets about what?" Leonard interrupted moodily as he and Dez walked into the room.

The others paused for a second, glancing at the pair of them with wide eyes. Jax was smirking a bit, but Sara folded her arms over her chest. "About yo -"

"Eucalyptus trees!" Kendra cut her off in a hurry. At Leonard's raised eyebrow and Dez's tilted head she nodded, barreling on in a rushed manner. "Yeah, I use to be a gardner in one of my past lives. So, I started planting some little eucalyptus trees in my room. Two of them. Rip and I have a bet about which of them grows into a full blown tree the fasted."

Rip flashed her a small cheeky grin. "And based on the - er - observations Gideon's made I'd say my tree is going to win."

Kendra shook her head vigorously. "Nuh-uh! Gideon can't see my tree. It's, um, hidden somewhere she can't detect it so we have no idea how it's doing! It could be sprouting from its roots as we speak!"

"Well I doubt that very much considering yours hardly had any roots to begin with," Rip argued.

Dez bit her bottom lip. She wasn't sure what they were really talking about, but she knew it had nothing to do with trees. Glancing at Leonard, she could tell from his face that he'd come to the same conclusion. That accusation was further affirmed when he said, "Right. I'm going to pretend I actually believe you and move the conversation forward. Where are we at with saving my partner?"

"And the others," Sara said.

"Yeah, whatever," Len said.

Sara rolled her eyes, leaning her against one of the time jump chairs, facing the console at the center of the room. She'd changed into a green shirt and jeans, her hair flowing over her shoulders with a small bun on top her head.

Deserey moved to occupy the chair Sara was leaning on. She felt a bit self conscious because she was still wearing the same outfit she'd been wearing the night before.

It didn't help that Leonard was also in his same clothes as the previous night; Deserey hoped the others wouldn't think they'd slept together. (Technically they had slept together, but they hadn't slept together. And she didn't need the others thinking they had.)

Kendra leaned in the door way to the parlour. Her hair was curled perfectly as always, her freckles outlining her face beautifully. She was dressed simply in a pair of waist high skinny jeans, boots, a black t-shirt, and a leather jacket.

Jax sat beside her on the steps, looking utterly exhausted now that the atmosphere in the room had changed to a more serious one. He was dressed a bit sloppily, wearing an over sized red tee and baggy grey sweat pants. The boy didn't even have any shoes on, just some black socks. From the looks of it Gideon's sedatives hadn't done a damn thing.

Deserey felt a pang of sympathy for the two of them. Out of everyone on the ship, besides Leonard, they'd be losing the most out of everyone if they didn't get the others back in time.

Kendra would once again be losing the love of her life; Jax would be losing the man who'd acted as a mentor and father figure over the last few months.

Deserey shook the thoughts away, trying to remain positive for once. They'd get them back. Of course they would. Rip wouldn't just leave them.

Apparently, Leonard didn't agree, though. He flashed Rip an accusing look. "You do plan on getting him out don't you? Or is he just redundant now?"

"Them," Kendra corrected quietly. "And they."

Leonard shrugged, twirling around to glare at the hawk warrior for a second. "Don't care." His glare returned to Rip, Kendra scoffing from behind him.

Rip sighed, already exasperated with the way Len was acting like a moody teenager. "Yes, obviously. I said we'd get them all back didn't I?"

"You said a lot of things, Rip," Leonard shrugged. "Not all of them have been true."

Rip let out another irritated sigh, as he walked to the center console, signaling Gideon to start talking. She did so immediately, her voice ringing throughout the bridge. "Labor Camp Number Fifty-four - formally known as the Koshmar or Nightmare Gulag."

Deserey glanced over at the wall, as Gideon pulled up an image on all the monitors in the room. The place was huge and, frankly, a bit intimidating. A barbed wire fence ran along the multiple structures in the yard.

Dez counted eight buildings in all, but she guessed there could have been more out of shot. The four on the right side of the frame were each long, narrow structures, more like crates than anything else.

The four on the left side varied in shapes and sizes. One was small with a round roof, another was taller but still short in comparison to the others. A third spread out across the yard, looking a bit like a cluttered mess. The last building stood at the front of the yard, away from the others, like it was somehow more important than them.

Dez wondered which building her friends would be in. Would they all be together or would they have gotten separated?

"Built in the eighteenth century -"

Leonard shifted, pressing the palms of his hands to the console's surface impatiently. "Can we skip past the wikipedia crap and get to the good stuff, like how to break in?"

Gideon remained quiet. The remaining team members, even Rip, simultaneously glanced up at the ceiling in confusion. Sara quirked an eyebrow upwards. "Perhaps you didn't register that as a question, Gideon?"

"I understood," the AI said, "but in its two-hundred years of operation, no one has ever successfully escaped from -"

Leonard cut her off again. "No offense, Gideon, but I never met a building I couldn't break into."

Rip nodded nervously. "Well, I hope you're right. Savage knows that Stein created Firestorm, but if he finds out he is Firestorm -"

Len glared at him harshly. "Always Savage with you, isn't it?" He folded his arms over himself, looking a bit childish in the process. (Dez decided not to tell him about that.) "My partner's in prison too."

"Yeah," Kendra mumbled, "so you keep reminding everyone." When Len's glared turned on her, she shrugged carelessly. "What? You can't really blame Rip for looking at the bigger picture here. Savage is the one who destroys the future. Besides, it's not just Rory and Stein that's in there. Carter and Ray are there too!"

"Not my partners. Not my problem," Leonard said. The tone in his voice startled Dez a bit. She supposed it shouldn't have been all that shocking, but since they'd started this whole thing she'd rarely ever heard him speak that way unless it was directed at Rip; part of Dez had started to believe he wasn't as cold as everyone said he was until then.

Jax rolled his eyes with a scoff. "C'mon, man, we're all on the same team here! We should be worrying about all of them. Not just one of them!"

"Whatever." Leonard turned to Rip again, jabbing his finger at the captain harshly. "The point is, you didn't lift a finger."

Rip must have quickly gotten fed up with the attitude, because he was suddenly shouting, making Deserey jump at the sudden change of tone. "You know damn well it was never my intention to get them thrown into a gulag, but I had no other option."

Sara shrugged, making a face like Well.. But she held her tongue. Deserey followed her example, deciding it would be better for everyone if she just kept her mouth shut. Kendra and Jax apparently thought the same thing, because they didn't say anything either.

Rip went on with his rant, determined to justify his decision. But it just seemed like a bit of a low blow to Dez. "Besides, I doubt that it's Mr. Rory's first time in prison or second or, I imagine, tenth!"

Leonard looked like he had a few choice words for the captain, but before he could tell Rip off, Sara pushed herself off Deserey's chair and walked to the console. "Alright," she sighed. "Arguing is not gonna get the team back any faster."

Rip and Leonard each nodded their argument and took a three steps away from each other. Sara pressed her hands to the console's surface, nodding to the captain. "And Rip's right. Criminals usually do feel more at home in prison, and they know it better than anyone else."

Deserey looked up at her, figuring the blonde had a plan forming up in her head somewhere. Apparently Leonard did too, because asked, "So?"

"So what if the key to breaking in is asking someone who's been in and out of Soviet prisons their whole life?" Sara twisted her body so she could see everyone in the room, leaning slightly on the console as she did so, a small smirk playing at her lips.

Rip shifted slightly, apparently picking up on the fact that Sara was talking about someone specific as well. "And who might that be?"

Sara's smirk widened a bit. "Are you familiar with the Bratva?"

Leonard leaned against the console across from her, flashing the assassin an amused grin that inexplicably annoyed Dez. "Ooh, the Russian mob. In 1986 they would have ruled the criminal underground inside every prison."

Dez remembered reading briefly about the Russian mafia once. They were not a nice bunch of people. She was willing to bet Sara could take out ten or more of them in her sleep, but it still seemed a little ill advised to go antagonizing some gang members. "Why don't we just go in for a fake conjugal visit and sneak 'em out?"

Kendra choked on the air at this, and Jax let out a huge laugh, the other three just staring at her with wide eyes.

"What?" Deserey asked. She looked between her team mates. "Was I completely out of line?"

"I...don't think they'd fall for that," Kendra shook her head.

Rip nodded in agreement. "Savage will most likely have them under strict orders not to receive any visitation."

"It was just a thought." Deserey shrugged. "Can we get fake tattoos, then?"

Rip made a face. "Why would we do that?"

"To sneak in to the Bratva, duh!" Dez said.

"We...don't need to do that," Rip said.

Dez pouted, but when the captain didn't change his mind, she relented with a heavy sigh. "Fine!"

"So, when do we leave for the Bratva?" Kendra asked.

Rip turned to her, gesturing at her and Jax. "You're staying on the ship." He gestured at himself, Leonard, Sara, and Deserey. "We're leaving for the Bratva. We don't need any more casualties."

Jax made a face. "Whoa, man." He jumped to his feet, suddenly seeming much more lively. Glancing at Kendra, he said, "Why does it feel like we're on the JV team all of a sudden?"

Kendra nodded her agreement, but Rip just sighed, annoyed that his team never just listened to him. He nodded to Jax. "What you are is one half of everything Savage needs to change the fate of the Cold War." Next he nodded to Kendra. "And you are the only person who can kill him without Carter onboard, and should anything happen to him before we manage to rescue him and the others."

Kendra pushed herself off the wall, taking a small step forward. "Yeah, so you can't just -"

"I am not going to gift-wrap the two people in the world that Savage wants the most!" Rip said, raising his voice a little again.

Kendra and Jax simultaneously gave a childish huff, reminding Deserey of Anita and Daren.

Leonard shot everyone an impatient look, jerking his head towards the door. "We should go."

Sara and Rip nodded curtly in response; the three of them headed out. Dez hung back a moment, sending Jax and Kendra an apologetic look. "Maybe you guys could watch over Booster in the brig?" she suggested.

Jax scoffed. "Baby sitting duty? Really, Dez?"

Kendra shrugged. "Better than sitting around feeling useless, I guess."

"I guess," Jax reluctantly agreed.

* * *

Deserey sat on top of the table inside the the steam room, watching as the mobster Yuri waltzed inside with nothing but a towel around his waist.

Rip was perched on the seat in front of her, leaning back on the table slightly, in much the same state. Leonard was lazing about at the back of the room, wrapped in a fuzzy, white bath robe.

Dez tried very hard not to think about the fact that they were buck naked under those thin towels and robes; and she really tried not to imagine what would happen if they were to fall off. (Especially in Rip's case since his towel looked rather lose. Deserey really did not need to see her captain or any of her team mates without clothes!)

Deserey herself had stripped down to a tank top and a pair of shorts, but she refused to get completely naked or even reveal her bra and underwear. (She didn't need her team mates to know what she looked like without clothes on either!)

She was sort of surprised Leonard had done it. Though, she supposed his loathing of the heat would have triumphed over any body insecurities he may or may not have had.

Yuri was a big dude. His limbs were the size of mountains, and he toward over everyone in his wake, which made Dez feel a little less than an ant at a picnic. There was a pretty neat tattoo sprawled across his back: some sort of wolf or bear with a sword in its mouth standing in front of a castle with wings. Dez guessed that must have been the mob's insignia.

Another man left as Yuri came in, covering himself with a robe; and as the door swung shut Rip began addressing Yuri. "Your tattoo. It stands for 'Menia Ispravit Rasstrel,' if I'm not mistaken." They hadn't grabbed any of Rip's translation pills before leaving, so he was speaking in English. "In English it translates to 'Execution Will Reform Me.'"

Vaguely, Deserey wondered if Yuri had understood. Apparently he did, because he responded in perfect English himself, his thick Russian accent bleeding through, somehow making his appearance seem even more threatening. "What brings you to the banya, little man?" He eyed the Waverider's captain apprehensively.

"The name's Rip," Rip said. "I understand that you're familiar with the Koshmar Gulag."

Leonard spoke up from the back of the room, dragging our the syllables of each sentence more so than usual. "We need to break into that prison. And can you make it fast?" He lifted one hand, rolling his wrist impatiently. "I despise the heat."

Rip took over again, looking up at Yuri coolly. (Or as coolly as one could when another loomed over you like a grizzly bear.) "A man by the name of Vandal Savage runs a secret operation out of it - a prison within a prison, if you will."

Yuri slowly crossed the room so that he stood in front of Rip and Deserey. "I have heard of this Savage. He has no respect for my country's rich criminal traditions."

"So, you'll help us?" Leonard said.

"Preferably after y'all put some damned clothes on?" Deserey suggested.

Yuri regarded her as if she didn't even exist, but Dez couldn't tell if that was because racism or sexism. Either way it was rude as hell, and she planned to stomp on his foot for it when she left.

The mobster nodded towards Leonard and Rip, taking note of their bare skin. "You men have no tattoos. And a man with no life story cannot be trusted."

Dez threw her hands up, looking between the two of them. "I told you we should have gotten fake tattoos!"

"Igor! Andrei!" Yuri called to his henchmen before Rip could respond to Dez.

Deserey and the other two glanced towards the door. She expected a few men in black to come barreling through the door. Instead, she heard a door crash open from down the hall, followed by a couple of painful grunts and loud bangs.

Dez smirked. Sara must have arrived. She'd hung back at the ship while the other three had gone ahead to find Yuri. The assassin had wanted to dress for the occasion in her White Canary suit.

Rip glanced back at Yuri. "Igor and Andrei seem a bit preoccupied," he noted. "Now about that gulag..."

"No matter," Yuri said, ignoring Rip's comment about the prison. "In this life, a man fights for himself."

Deserey's eyes widened at that. "Uh, yeah. Maybe put some clothes on first? In case your towels fall down or something?" When Yuri cracked his neck, preparing for a fight, Dez shrank back. "Okay, or not..."

Rip glanced at Leonard. "Perhaps you'd like this one?"

Leonard just lazily raised his hand. "He's all yours." Though, all three team mates knew good and well that it wasn't likely Rip stood a chance against mobster.

The man who'd been laying down on the bench on the other side of Dez abruptly got to his feet, heading for the door the moment he realized there was a fight brewing in the steam room. Leonard got up, following him to the door and closing it behind the man; he stood watch and Yuri slammed into Rip.

Yuri kicked Rip and shoved him to the floor. Deserey quickly shielded her eyes, screaming like a baby. She hadn't seen anything, but she didn't want to take any chances. With her hands still over her eyes, she couldn't see what was happening, but she could hear Yuri and Rip scuffling around as they fought.

Though, Dez was pretty sure Rip was losing considering he kept trying to talk to Yuri. "So, you like having Vandal Savage run his evil empire from your country?" Rip asked.

Dez heard a few smacking sounds and an, "Oof!" from Rip.

Then, Yuri spoke up. "As much as a pig enjoys being Christmas dinner."

There was another moment of scuffling and grunting before the table scooted the slightest bit, and Dez almost toppled over. She guessed Yuri must've thrown Rip into the table, because when he spoke again his voice was much closer. "Help us, and we will destroy his entire operation."

Someone tapped on the door, and Deserey heard Len open it for them. A second later, she heard Sara's exasperated voice. "I just took out six men. You guys couldn't handle one?" She sighed. "And why is Dez covering her eyes?"

"I thought Rip's towel was gonna fall off," Dez explained. "Didn't want to see him naked."

"Dez, he's still covered," Sara told her.

Deserey shook her head, hands still over her eyes. "Nope. Not taking any chances."

"I promise. It's fine," the White Canary said.

"Still not looking!" Dez insisted.

It might have gone on like that for a while, but Yuri interrupted with a shocked gasp. "You killed my men?"

Sara must have turned her attention away from Deserey, because her next sentence was obviously addressed to Yuri. "They're not dead...yet. And neither are you, assuming you help us."

Apparently, a bad ass, sexy, blonde assassin in white beating up Igor, Andrei, and four of his other men was enough to make Yuri reconsider his options, because he said, "My organization runs black-market goods into Koshmar."

Rip spoke up next, telling Yuri about their four lost friends who'd gotten themselves stuck inside the prison. When he finished, Yuri spoke slowly, apprehensively. "Koshmar is not a hotel for petty criminals. If you're friends are there, they must be insane, ruthless animals."

"Eh." Deserey imagined Leonard was probably shrugging as he said this. "One out four anyways."

* * *

Leonard and Deserey fell behind Sara and Rip as they walked back to the ship. (Thankfully, Len and Rip had put their clothes back on after getting the information from Yuri.)

Dez noticed Len had changed back into his parka, but she reckoned that had more to do with him trying to block out the cold than feeling in charge. The two walked in silence, until they spotted Sara and Rip enter the Waverider's cargo bay.

Deserey stopped abruptly when she realized they'd closed the door before she and Leonard were anywhere near it. "Did they just shut us out? That is so rude!"

Leonard shrugged, pulling two wallets from his pockets with both his hands. "Jokes on them, I have their crap." He stuffed the wallets back in his coat as Dez snorted.

She gave him a suspicious look. "You're not gonna steal my wallet are you?"

He looked back at her seriously. "Who says I haven't already?"

"...Did you?"

In response, Leonard pulled another wallet from his pocket. This time Deserey recognized the silky blue pattern and the sandy design. It was definitely her wallet. She stared at Len, mouth agape. "I didn't even have it on my person! Did you go in my room to take this?"

"Yeah," he said. "Nothing personal. I rob everyone I meet." He shrugged.

Dez stared at him, completely bewildered. She folded her arms over herself as a cold wind blew over her. She'd changed back into long sleeves and jeans; and she even had on a thick coat too, but the chilly winter still gnawed at her skin. "Well, I guess I have to watch you more closely then." She snatched her wallet back from him, stuffing it in her pocket.

Leonard smirked back at her, looking a bit smug. "You'll never be able to catch me in the act."

"Yeah. You're probably right." Deserey folded her arms over herself, shivering slightly as another gust of wind washed over them. She glanced at Len, but he didn't even seem to be remotely bothered by the wintery chill. "Okay, for real? How the hell are you not freezing your ass off?"

Leonard gave her a look of amusement, as she tucked her head into herself to avoid another icy wind. "Why do you think they call me Captain Cold?"

"Uh, because you got an ice gun and like stealing people's wallets even though they don't have jack-shit?" Dez guessed.

Leonard shook his head. "First of all, I checked your wallet before I took it. So, I know how much is in there. I was going to give it to my sister. Second of all, I liked the cold way before I stole this gun." He gestured at the Cold Gun dangling on his hip.

Dez stared at him, still shivering. "You were going to give my wallet to your sister?!"

"Yeah," he said. "I thought she'd like it, because it's all sparkly and pretty."

Dez huffed. "That is so not how gifts work!"

Leonard shrugged. "That's how our gifts work."

This prompted an eye roll from Deserey. She glanced at the Waverider, biting her lip and shivering as the wind picked up. "You think they'll open the door any time soon?"

"Probably not," Leonard said, eyeing her carefully as the wind pushed a few strands of curls into her face.

Dez pouted, pushing her hair from her eyes. She was torn between getting upset and being beyond pissed. "Why'd they lock us out? Do you think it was an accident?"

"No, it was probably on purpose," Leonard said evenly. "I'm pretty sure we're Rip's tree. Probably trying to play Cupid or some annoying crap like that."

Deserey blanched, her face suddenly becoming extremely hot, defying the cold weather. She looked Leonard, her head down, eyes just barely looking up at him, brushing her hair away from her face again. "You mean...you think he and Kendra have a bet that'll we'll... He - he thinks we're gonna -" She laughed nervously, her face heating up even more.

Leonard shrugged, beginning to fiddle with his pinkie ring, staring down at the snow himself. "Guess so. Dunno why, though. You'd think as much as he whines about wanting to stop Savage he wouldn't have time to play match maker."

Deserey let out another nervous laugh. She stumbled over herself, which was pretty embarrassing considering they weren't even walking. It was made worse when she tripped right into Leonard, though; he had to steady her before she fell face first into the snow. "Oh my god," she mumbled into her hands, when she was standing up right. "I'm sorry, I'm making this weird, aren't I?"

"Kinda, yeah," Leonard admitted.

When Dez looked up, his face was completely passive but he was playing with his ring again; and Deserey was starting to understand that was his tell. He was good at hiding his facial expressions, but whenever he felt awkward or uncomfortable he'd fiddle with that thing. "...Sorry."

Leonard looked like he was about to say something, but before he could even get a word out another gust of wind had them both stumbling. Only this wind carried lightning behind it, so Deserey guessed it wasn't exactly normal wind.

Her hypothesis was proven correct, when none other than Barry Allen materialized in front of them clad in the red, leather Flash suit, cowl pushed down to reveal his brunette hair and brown eyes.

Leonard's whole demeanor changed upon seeing him. The wall he'd constructed to shield himself instantly grew ten feet taller. His eyes iced over, becoming just as cold as the weather they stood in. Len whipped out his Cold Gun, charging it up and aiming it at Barry. "Hello, Flash."

* * *

 **So, just gonna cut away from the main story for a hot sec. I feel like they ruined Inferno Street in canon so I wanted to fix it. Plus I've been looking forward to writing this for some time now. So, yay! Hopefully you like it as much as I do.**

 **Next chapter we'll yeet over to Flash for a bit. Then, we'll get back to LoT stuff: find out how Carter's fight turned out, another Mick and Ray scene, finally get a scene with Stein maybe, and if there's time come back to Booster Gold.**

 ** _that's all for now_**

 ** _~ Elsie_**


	39. Infantino Street pt 1

Deserey had, of course, only met the Flash one other time, but it had been made very clear during their first, brief meeting that Barry was a very relaxed and caring man, if not just a bit goofy. Her first impression of the guy: Ray Palmer with a much lankier body.

So, it was a little disconcerting to see the guy appear so stressed out, now. Waves of anxiousness rolled off of him like a waterfall tumbling down the mountain side. His eyes didn't quite hold the same light they'd had when Deserey had first met him at Star Labs when they'd gone to get her codename from Cisco.

Barry shifted, something like guilt forming on his face, mixed with something that looked alarmingly like desperation. Deserey could see slight bags forming under his eyelids, like he hadn't slept in a while; his feet were dragging the slightest bit.

His hair looked a bit different as well, not just because it was kind of messy either. It was a little shorter, as if he'd gotten himself a haircut at somepoint. (Though, Deserey could have just been remembering his last appearance incorrectly...)

Barry sighed, giving Leonard a small wave in spite of the Cold Gun aimed directly at his chest. He didn't seem to find it even remotely threatening. "I need your help."

Leonard quirked an eye brow at him. but apparently he was interested in what Barry had to say, because he slowly placed his gun back in its holster. "Barry Allen, hero of Central City," he mused, gesturing around them. "This is Siberia in the year 1986. We're a little out of your jurisdiction."

Barry held a desperate hand out to stop him, taking a few steps closer. "Yeah, hear me out. I want to recruit you...for a mission."

Leonard rolled his eyes. He turned slightly, jerking his head towards the time ship that sat clear as day behind them. "I'm already helping a bunch of idiot do-gooders." He shrugged carelessly. "Sorry, I'm up to my fuzzy hood in teamwork."

Deserey shifted awkwardly, fiddling with the sleeve of her jacket. She couldn't help but wonder if she was supposed to be included in 'idiot do-gooders.' She didn't bother asking though.

Leonard turned his back on the Flash, heading for the ship even though Rip hadn't opened the door for them yet. Deserey glanced at Barry, shrugging apologetically.

Apparently, Barry wasn't going to take no for an answer though. He held his arms out, staring with pleading eyes at Leonard's back. "Would it help if I said please?"

"No." Leonard turned back around to face him. He sent a glare his way, but it didn't look nearly as harsh as the ones he'd been giving Rip. "You already have a bunch of superhero types in your life. Why ask me?"

Barry let out a heavy sigh, shrugging slightly. "Well you have a..." He hesitated, "particular set of skills."

"You need to steal something," Deserey guessed.

Barry nodded, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. "Yeah," he admitted quietly.

"Also," Dez added, "Taken."

"Great movie," Leonard commented, smirking slightly. He turned serious again a moment later though, going back to shooting the Flash down. "Last time we tried to be buddy-buddy, it didn't work out so well..." With another smirk, he added, "for you."

Deserey tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Last time?"

"He asked me for help transporting some dirt bags across the city," Leonard explained.

"Yeah, and he sabotaged the truck we were moving them in." Barry grimaced at the memory.

Deserey gave a Len a look. "That's sort of mean."

Leonard shrugged, unapologetically. He didn't respond to the comment though, instead narrowing his eyes at Barry again. "Why trust me now?" He had a point. It was a bit reckless and dumb to trust someone after they'd betrayed you.

Barry didn't immediately answer. He blinked a couple of times, shifting his weight from foot to foot as he stared at the ground.

Deserey looked at him worriedly. Maybe she didn't really have a right to care, considering she didn't really know him all that well; but he looked so completely lost and helpless. She thought he might of been trying not to break down.

Leonard, evidently, did not share her sympathy for the Flash. He sighed, pointing at the Waverider with an impatient finger. "Spit it out, or I'm gonna step onto that ship and pretend like this conversation never happened."

"It's probably locked," Dez reminded him.

He shrugged. "I'll break in."

She nodded. "Okay, fair enough."

Len turned back to Barry. "Well?"

Barry hesitated for another moment. When his eyes finally met the thief's they looked even more desperate than before. "Iris."

It took Deserey a moment to recall who he was talking about. The two had hardly spoken any words to each other when the Legends had been at Star Labs; and even after she'd put a name to her face, Dez couldn't remember the woman's relation to Barry, until Leonard scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Oy. The girlfriend."

"Fiancée," Barry corrected half heartedly.

"Mazel tov," Leonard said, though his tone was laced with a bit of sarcasm. "What about her?"

Deserey watched as Barry shifted uncomfortably again. She knit her brows together, partly in thought and partly because the wind was picking back up. "Is she in danger?" It was kind of a shot in the dark, but she'd just assumed the fact that Barry needed to steal something and the fact that he'd said her name were connected somehow.

Barry nodded slowly. He looked at Len again, and Deserey could easily imagine him getting down on his knees and begging Leonard for help. "If you don't help me, she's gonna die."

Somehow, Leonard still seemed very unmoved by the Flash's proposal. "True love. That's your pitch."

Barry shrugged helplessly again. "That's all I've got."

Leonard placed his hand over the Cold Gun, inching towards Barry, his eyes down cast. Deserey couldn't tell what he was thinking, and she was sort of worried that he was about to shoot Barry. She bit her lip nervously, watching the exchange. Len glanced up at Barry again. "And I assume saving your girlfriend requires us doing something less than lawful, like Dez said?"

Barry stared back at the thief, nodding again slowly. He didn't appear to be as worried about being shot as Dez was. "We need to break into ARGUS and steal an alien power source."

Dez made a face. She held up a hand, pushing her way between the two men so she could be part of the conversation too. "Okay, what's an ARGUS? Because I'm guessing you don't mean that guy with one hundred eyes." She folded her arms. "Also, alien power source?"

She remembered Gideon saying something about aliens existing back in the fifties, but the Legends had yet to see one face to face.

"Oh, right," Barry muttered to himself. "Almost forgot you guys are from 2016 so you haven't done the whole Dominator thing yet..."

Leonard and Dez exchanged looks with each other. "What?" Len asked.

Barry waved it off. "It's a really long story..." For some reason he wasn't looking at Leonard when he said that.

"Okay?" Dez said slowly. "Um, when are you from, if not from 2016?"

"...2017," Barry said. Dez wasn't sure why he sounded so nervous about that. Maybe he was just worried about messing up the past.

She nodded curtly. "Okay," she said. "A year in the future. Cool, I guess. Didn't know speedsters could also time travel. But...cool." She rolled her hand for him to continue explaining. "So, um, ARGUS?"

"Uh..." Barry struggled to find the right words to explain it to her. "The easiest way to describe it is: a secret government organization."

"Ah. Gotcha." Dez glanced at Len, grinning slightly, in spite of her face feeling more than a little numb from the weather. "C'mon. Don't you wanna rob another government building?"

Leonard shrugged. "Guess so." He mused over the thought for a moment, smirking with the slightest bit of amusement. "Flash, a thief," he snickered. Dez could practically see gears shifting in his head as he considered it. Finally, he said, "That's my kind of mission... One condition: my rules."

"Your rules." Barry gave yet another curt nod, apparently willing to agree with anything at this point. Whatever Iris had gotten mixed in to it had to be pretty bad...

Barry scrunched his face in confusion, suddenly realizing what Dez had said. He turned to her. "Wait. What did you mean another government building?"

Dez laughed a little at his reaction before recounting the Pentagon heist to him. He listened with a vague interest, probably more worried about saving his fiancee than actually hearing about it; and he grimaced a bit when she'd told him about the arguments that had followed the heist. (She wasn't sure why she'd told him about those. It was just that sometimes she couldn't stop herself from talking.)

"Anyway, we should get going if you're in that much of a hurry," Leonard said when the story was finished.

"I'm coming too," Deserey said before either of them could move. "It's cold out here, and I don't care if you're just gone three seconds, I'm not waiting for you out here. Also, running with a speedster is on my bucket list."

Barry blinked, taken aback by that last comment. "Oh. Okay, then."

Dez jumped on his back like a child, causing him to stumble a bit. "Giddy up, Flash!" She caught Leonard snickering at this, but Barry didn't seem to think it was all that funny.

He didn't protest the position, though. Instead, he sped off, grabbing Leonard in the process.

Time travel via speedster was a lot different than traveling in the Waverider.

For one thing, going the speedster route didn't have those beautiful green waves Deserey had grown so fond of over the last few weeks or so. Instead, the trio was surrounded by a montage of history. Dez watched with wide eyes as the Cold War zipped past her in a blurry image, like a video on a turbo charged fast forward.

She saw key moments in her life too. Her parents kicking her out. The day she'd married Darryl and the day they divorced. She saw the day her kids were born and even the day Rip picked her and the other Legends up.

Dez wondered if the other two could see it as well. Or, perhaps it was something that was personal to the individual? Maybe they all seen something completely different?

She leaned forward to ask Barry, but in doing so she must've caused him to lose his hold on her because she found herself slipping off his back.

Deserey flinched, her body going weightless for a moment before slamming onto the hard ground. She groaned, rubbing her head where she'd landed on it; but she didn't open her eyes until she heard a sharp gasp.

The room was spacious, the walls aligned with a dark blue glow. The floors were a dark black, though they were shinny enough for Deserey to see her reflection. At the back of the room sat a long, oval table under a large TV screen.

Sitting at the table was a woman dressed in a grey windbreaker over a white tank top. Her blonde hair came to a stop at her shoulders, hazel eyes widening with shock. The woman stood abruptly, her hand moving to her mouth to cover the gasp she'd just let out.

Dez stared back at her, her own mouth hanging wide open, words refusing to form. What was she supposed to say anyways?

Thankfully, she didn't have to say anything. With a gust of wind, Barry returned, grabbing Dez and rescuing her from the terribly awkward situation.

In the blink of an eye, Deserey was standing in the center of a long, rounding hallway with white walls and flooring, which she vaguely recognized from the last time she was in Star Labs. Leonard and Barry were standing next to her.

"Sorry," Barry winced guiltily, holding his arms out to steady her as she stumbled a little. "Sometimes it's kinda hard to hold on to two people. You okay?"

Dez nodded, rubbing her head, a familiar buzz forming behind her eyes. She wasn't sure if that was because of the time traveling or the fact that she'd hit her head. "I'm gonna have a bump on my head, but I'll live." She resisted the urge to add, unfortunately. Instead, she asked, "Who was that lady?"

Barry looked confused. "Huh? What lady?"

"The blonde," Dez said. "You didn't see her?"

He shrugged and shook his head. "There wasn't any lady."

Deserey put her hands on her hips, the buzzing in her head intensifying as she did so, making her grimace. "There was. She stared right at me."

From the look on his face, the speedster clearly didn't believe her. That would have been bad enough, except that he added, "Look, the speed force is pretty trippy. Maybe it made you see something that wasn't there or -"

"Or," Dez said, the buzz ringing in her ears with each word she said, "the more likely thing, you just aren't observant."

Barry's eyes widened for a second. Apparently, Deserey wasn't the first person to call him out on his observation skills, or lack there of, because he said, "Okay, Oliver."

Dez grunted, rubbing her temples and closing her eyes for a second. "You can't compare to someone I haven't met. That's just rude." She grimaced as the buzzing continued when she spoke. Though, it seemed to be dying down a bit, so that was good. At least, it wasn't nearly as annoying as the first go around.

"Well, actually you have met him in this time period but..." Barry trailer off. He sounded a little worried. "Are you sure you're okay? Both of you actually..."

Deserey glanced at Leonard. He was leaning against the wall, blinking a little and holding his own head. She guessed he must've gotten vertigo. After a moment, he stood up and seemed to be perfectly fine.

"Yeah," Dez said, turning back to Barry. The ringing was but a small inconvenience now. "Just the side effects of time travel."

Leonard huffed and glared at Barry, looking a bit teed off. "Which you seem to have a distinct lack of."

Barry gave them another look of confusion. "Huh? I've never gotten any side effects from time traveling before."

"What?" Dez shouted, probably much louder than necessary. "That's not fair! Why not?"

Barry shrugged. "I don't know. Speedsters heal faster. So, maybe we just don't get them."

Dez squinted at him, now sharing Leonard's disposition. "Oh, you dick!"

Barry let out a small chuckle at that. He gestured for the two Legends to follow him down the hall, leading them into the Cortex, where the rest of Team Flash was waiting.

Harrison Wells stood at the center of the group, waving around a pair of drum sticks, a goofy hat perched on top his head. "I know we don't have a plane. We steal a plane, okay? We'll put it back. Alright?"

He seemed much sillier than he'd been the last time Deserey had been at Star Labs. So, either he'd gotten an attitude adjustment or he was a completely different person.

Dez remembered Martin saying something about the Wells they'd met being from 'Earth Two.' If that were the case than this goofy Wells could have been from another earth also, which begged the question: how many versions of Harrison Wells did this team need?

The goofy Wells went on, happily explaining his over eccentric plan, oblivious to the three new comers. "And we parachute out of the plane, and we land on the roof - gotta land on the roof, alright? And then..." He pointed the drum sticks downwards, intimating the air whooshing. "Right down the air ducts. Mission: Improbable Style." He spread his arms out like a bird, grinning broadly. "Easy!"

"Easy," Cisco nodded, standing right in front of him. He didn't seem to think the plan was as enticing as Goofy Wells did.

"Yes!" Goofy Well grinned.

Cisco folded his arms, absolutely unimpressed. "What about the counterterrorism missiles?"

"What?" Goofy Wells made a face. But before he could say anything else, Leonard spoke up, drawing everyone's attention to them.

He waltzed to the center of the room, coming to a stop next to Cisco and Joe West, talking like they were all good friends and not worst enemies. "Hello, Joe, Cisco!" He turned to Iris, smirking slightly. "Iris! Love the ice. Sparkly."

Deserey herself caught sight of another familiar face, one that had definitely not been there before.

They had a bob of jet black hair, dark, amber eyes. Their frame was slim, because the body rarely got enough to eat being anorexic. Freckles bridged across their nose.

Deserey recognized the body as Lucy Danifer, but it was hard telling if that's who was fronting at the moment. She wasn't sure how Lucy's DID had effected her after they'd stopped talking. Maybe she'd completely healed and moved on from it; though that wasn't likely, as Dissociative Identity Disorder wasn't really something that just magically disappeared one day.

Dez hadn't seen her, and by extension any of her alters, in years. So, she wasn't sure if she'd be able to tell the way she'd use to be able to, assuming they'd even let her see any changes, sometimes it was impossible to spot a switch, DID being a self defense mechanism and all. (Dez had only been able to tell because Lucy and her two alters Chloe and Dan had trusted her.)

In addition, Deserey didn't know if Lucy was even still the host - the alter that fronts the most often. Never mind the fact that, if any new alters had made an appearance they would have no idea who Deserey was, and they'd probably be weary of her if she approached them.

So, she kept her distance for the moment. She didn't want to startle whoever this person might have been. If they recognized her, then they'd be the one to address her first.

And they stayed put at the back of the room, so it was probably a safe bet that this was someone new.

They sat prim and proper, shoulders high, hands folded on their lap. Their toes were pointed ever so slightly, as they eyed Deserey and Leonard. Another tell tale sign that this wasn't Lucy, Chloe, or Dan? They were wearing glasses. As far as Dez knew, neither of those three needed to wear glasses.

Goofy Wells aimed one drum stick at Deserey and Leonard each. "Captain Cold. And Sandstorm." Iris rolled her head around, a look of exasperation forming on her face.

Cisco and Joe were wearing identical looks of horror on their faces. Their mouths were agape, eyes widened. "Snart, what the hell are you doing here?"

Barry cleared his throat awkwardly, his team eyeing him with expressions of suspicion that didn't quite make sense. "Snart's gonna help me break into ARGUS - get the power source. And, um, Dez came to help too." He added the last part sheepishly, and Dez tried not to feel too offended about being an after thought.

Goofy Wells spluttered. He shook his head. "Huh?"

The person at the back of the room nodded their agreement. They fiddled with their glasses as they spoke, their accent an Australian one, thick and sweet like honey. "I second that. It seems odd that he specifically could be here, considering you told us the Legends said -"

Barry stumbled into the desk at the center of the Cortex, knocking some junk onto the floor. "Oh, no. Clumsy me." From the way he said it, it sounded as if he'd made a mess on purpose in order to cut the person off.

Dez shared a look with Len, as Joe kept giving Barry that look all parents wore when their kids were about to be in big trouble. "Awkward," Leonard muttered.

"Yeah," Dez whispered back. "I'm getting the sense they didn't know we were coming."

Leonard nodded. He turned, addressing Team Flash. "I can see you all have a lot to talk about. We'll be done in your lab."

That last part was directed at Cisco, as he walked towards the door, excusing himself and Deserey so they could reprimand Barry for whatever stupid thing they thought he'd done in private. Dez followed him without a second thought.

* * *

Leonard and Deserey only had to wait around in Cisco's lab for a few minutes during Barry's scolding. It mustn't have been too bad though, because everyone seemed to be on good terms, if not the slightest bit unnerved.

The team pulled out a blue map of the ARGUS building, explaining their situation when Dez wouldn't stop pestering them with questions. (If they were going to help, then they had a right to know what was going on!)

Deserey stared at them when they'd finished. She pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling a headache coming on as she summed it all up. "So, Barry did some speedy weedy mombo jumbo mixed with some timey wimey stuff and now there's an evil version of him running around trying to kill Iris because...reasons?"

Iris nodded, letting out a heavy sigh. "Yeah. Pretty much." She seemed oddly calm for someone who was about to die in a number of hours...

"Jeesh," Dez mumbled. "And I thought the weirdest story was gonna be Carter and Kendra's..."

Leonard pointed to a spot on the map. Deserey got the feeling he wasn't paying attention to anything they'd been saying. "It'll be here."

"Why there?" Barry asked.

"Because," Leonard explained, "it's the deepest part of the facility." Deserey had seen him serious before, but now that he was taking charge of a heist his stature was twice as intense as it usually was, a bit like he'd been when he planned for their infiltration at the weapons bazaar in the seventies.

Leonard eyed the team with narrowed eyes. "And if it's as valuable as you say it is, then the deepest recesses of any facility are usually the most secure."

"Hm," Cisco hummed. "Smart, Snart." He started chuckling, but no one else joined in so he awkwardly scratched at his head.

Dez grinned lightly, coming to his aid, as she realized what he'd found so humorous about his statement. "Oh, I get it. Cause it rhymes." She gave a small laugh.

Cisco pointed at her. "See she gets me!" But when the others still didn't join in on the pitiful joke, he said, "I'm gonna keep hackin' away and find out for sure."

"I'll go with you," the alter, who's name Dez had found out was Linda, said. She and Cisco left the room, the latter walking a bit stiff.

Dez cringed. The tension among Team Flash was unbearably high. She hoped it wasn't always like this between the team.

Barry exhaled once Cisco and Linda had left the room. He looked at Len, almost as serious as the thief himself. "Do you have any idea what else might be down there?"

Len shrugged carelessly. "Doesn't matter. There are only four rules you need to remember." He tacked them off on his finger as he listed them. "Make the plan, execute the plan, expect the plan to go of the rails..." He paused between the third rule and the fourth, probably for dramatic effect, Deserey guessed. "Throw away the plan."

Dez raised an eyebrow. "Did you just pull that out of your ass right now?"

"No I pulled it out of my ass when I was fourteen," Len told her. He glanced at Barry, his eyes narrowing the slightest bit. "Follow my lead and you'll be fine." He glanced back at Dez with the same look, which was kind of spooky. "You too."

Dez gave a little salute, her voice taking on a slightly sarcastic tone as she covered up her discomfort. "Aye, aye, Captain."

"I'm trusting you," Barry said. There was an unspoken undertone of please, don't screw me over again!

Iris looked at Leonard, her hands stuffed in the pockets of her black coat. Her expression was soft, pleading. "We all are."

"Just don't sit me at the single's table at the wedding reception," Leonard told them. The comment had Iris and Barry shifted uncomfortably for some reason.

Dez tilted her head at him. "What makes you think you'll be invited to their wedding?"

Leonard gave her a pointed look in return. "I'm helping them save the bride. I'm invited to that wedding. Probably even the best man."

Deserey's eyes lit up at that. She grinned at Barry and Iris. "If he's the best man, can I be the maid of honor?"

Iris and Barry exchanged hesitant looks with one another; Deserey gave them a pouty look, folding her hands in front of her. "I...think we'll wait to make any concrete plans until I'm not on the brink of death," Iris said. "But um...we'll talk."

"Yes. Yes, we will," Deserey agreed.

Joe spoke up next, bringing everyone back to the task at hand. He looked at Leonard, a bit suspicious. "Just out of curiosity, you have a plan for getting in there?"

"I've got that covered," Barry insisted.

Goofy Wells walked in the room with a blonde woman, carrying coffee. HR quickly covered the woman's eyes. "Hey, Flash. Superhero. Cowl on, please? We've got civilians in the house."

"It's okay, H.R., we're trusting Tracy with our lives. We can trust her with this," Barry said walking over to them.

Tracy. Dez recalled hearing her name in Team Flash's story about Evil!Barry. She was helping them build a weapon to stop the evil speedster, they'd said.

"Good point," Goofy Wells, H.R., said. "Yeah. Okay, I'll put my hands down now." Slowly, he lowered his hands from Tracy's face.

Tracy's eyes lit up and she grinned at Barry, laughing slightly. "Oh, I totally should have figured that out!"

Barry grinned back at her, evidently finding amusement from her reaction. H.R. gestured at the map of the ARGUS building. "Well, carry on then." The duo left again.

"Alright," Barry nodded. He turned and walked back to the others. Deserey glanced at Leonard, thinking the random interaction was a bit odd, but Len shrugged apparently not caring about it.

Barry glanced at Joe, looking dead serious. "Alright, Joe, I need you to take Iris some place far from here. Far away from me."

Iris frowned. "Barry -"

"I can't know where," Barry insisted. "If I know where, then Savitar knows."

Joe nodded in agreement. "I'll get Wally." He started out of the room, patting Barry on the shoulder as he went. "We'll keep her safe, don't worry."

Barry and Iris glanced at Len and Dez, and Deserey got the feeling they wanted to have a private moment. She nudged Len towards the door gently. He got the hint, and they headed for the door as well.

* * *

 **So here's another update at the ungodly hour of 12:17 AM 'cause I have no life so I can stay up as late as I want and have absolutely no consequences except for the state of my mental health but that's dwindling anyways so who cares** **Alright.**

 **Well it took two minutes to write that nonsense so now it's 12:19 AM.** **Anyway, you'll have to excuse the random characters who showed up this chapter. I would be remise if I didn't take this opportunity to vaguely introduce some other ocs of mine who have/will have their own story!**

 **Shameless promotions and what not. Hopefully they seem interesting... Probably not. oh well.** **Anyway, this chapter has been sitting here finished and unpublished for god only knows why for long enough so I'm gonna go ahead and shut up and push that publish button now. Feel free to ignore this useless now. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!**

 **That's all for now! Toodles!**

 **~ Elsie**

 **PS. The final time of posting is 12:24 AM for watty and 12:39 AM on FFN**


	40. Infantino Street pt 2

**First, I know there's drama with Killer Frost and Savitar in Flash season 3 but I'm changing it because I forgot when I wrote this and I've already rewritten this chapter like twice so...yeah. Sorry if the inaccuracy bothers you. But surely y'all know how much I love changing canon by now so it shouldn't surprise you.** **Second, this is unedited until I get around to it later, so please excuse that.** **Third, uber long chapter/part. Longer than normal, like 6,000 something**

 **Enjoy**

Cisco had left Leonard and Dez alone to go work with Linda on a fake ID for Barry.

The other members of Team Flash were readying themselves for the plan. H.R. had brought everyone coffee. (Dez wasn't sure how he guessed she liked frappés though. She assumed it was because he was from her future.)

While Cisco and Linda worked everyone, omitting Barry, went to say their goodbyes to the Wests.

Len and Dez hung out in one of the numerous science labs in the building. It wasn't very big, only about twenty by twenty feet; shelves took up half the space, making it feel even smaller.

At the center of the room was a long, wooden work table, lab equipment taking up every inch of its surface.

Deserey was hesitant to enter the room, worried they might mess something up; but Leonard had insisted messing things up was half the fun.

Though, it wasn't long before Leonard got bored and started rifling through the cabinets and drawers.

Deserey watched him, making a face. "Oh, come on. You can't rob them now! They're distressed!"

"They're always distressed," Leonard pointed out. He pulled up a bucket from under the table. It was full of, what looked like, grenades. "Wonder what these are for..."

"Don't --" He didn't wait for her warning, pressing the button on top of the grenade. The thing emitted a small beeping; Leonard let it roll away from him on the table.

Just in time too, because a moment later, it erupted, ice covering the entirety of the work table at the center of the room. Any items that had been sitting on the table's surface were also covered in a block of frozen water.

Dez stared at the table in shock; Leonard made a look, impressed. He started pocketing the little ice bombs.

Deserey gave him a scornful look, which he replied to with a shrug. "What? Obviously, I get all the ice themed weapons. I'm Captain Cold. That's a right of passage!"

"You two planning on cleaning that mess up?" Deserey whirled around, surprised by the sudden new voice.

Stood in the doorway was Caitlin -- except she looked completely different. Her hair was snow white, like Elsa's from Frozen; her eyes were the same shade as an icy crystal, seemingly glowing. And her skin had gotten a shade or two lighter.

Her expression was much colder, and she almost looked bored, like everyone and everything was beneath her -- sort of like how Leonard looked whenever Rip or Ray started talking.

She'd changed into a pale blue leather jacket and tight skinny jeans. And even though she had only met her one other time, Deserey knew her shirt was far too low cut for Caitlin's style.

No, this wasn't Caitlin at all. Deserey imagined that this woman was simply sharing a body with her -- they must have had DID.

Dez had spent plenty of time with Lucy, Dan, and Chloe to recognize the signs of DID, even if it was difficult at times to spot a switch.

Though she had never seen an alter able to change the body's appearance before.

So, if it was DID it must have been a brand new strand of the disorder -- probably thanks to the Particle Accelerator. (She'd have to ask Martin and/or Ray how probable that was when they got them back from the Russians.)

The colder Caitlin nodded to the icy table top, looking quite annoyed about it. "Because I'm not getting blamed for that."

"...Yeah," Deserey nodded slowly. "Sure. Um, who are you?"

The white haired woman shrugged. She stepped into the room, glaring at Leonard and Deserey like they killed her puppy. Still, she answered the question without much hesitation, despite the distrustful look in her eyes.

"Dad called me Khione, but that name sucks so I think I'll change it."

Leonard glanced at Dez, looking completely confused. She guessed he didn't have much experience with people with DID. This was probably his first time meeting someone with the condition.

"Yeah?" Deserey asked, focusing her attention on Khione. Khione's intense gaze reminded her a little of Chloe, who was a very hostile person. "What are you going to change it to?"

Khione shrugged, leaning on the table. She tapped her fingers along its surface, looking bored. "I don't know. Maybe I'll steal Caity and my earth two doppelganger's name: Killer Frost. Has a nice ring to it. The others have been calling me that anyways."

Her voice carried a slow drawl that was eeriely similar to Leonard's. Deserey thought in some way she might have even been mocking him, as she looked up at him with a small smirk.

"And with you gone I suppose Central City will need a new ice villain." She made a face. "Of course it really annoys Caity when I kidnap and stab all of her friends...But I'm sure we can work out a compromise."

Deserey shared a concerned look with Leonard. He raised his brow at Khione -- Killer Frost. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

Killer Frost looked up at him, snickering to herself. "Well, earlier this year I kidnapped this boy Caity likes and stabbed Barry -- twice. And --"

"He meant the part about Central City needing an ice villain," Dez said.

"Oh that," Killer Frost said like it didn't matter. She stood up and walked to the other end of the room, running her hands over everything as she passed by. "You die."

"What?" Leonard and Dez exclaimed at the same time.

Killer Frost just shrugged indifferently. "Yeah, tough break."

Deserey shared another look with Leonard. She was silently freaking out. Her heart pounding in her chest, palms growing sweaty. But he looked oddly calm, like he hadn't just been told her was destined to die.

Dez was about to ask how it happened when Cisco stepped into the room, looking uneasy. He glanced between Leonard and Frost, his eyes darting back and forth between them.

"Captain Cold and Killer Frost in the same room," he mumbled. "Yeah, that's not scary at all."

He glanced at the table. "What!? Come on! Y'all are already tearing up the place? For real?" He sighed, exasperated, and shook his head. "Never mind. Okay, before y'all get any kidnapp-y and stabb-y ideas Barry is ready to go."

Leonard and Deserey met Barry in the halls as they prepared to leave. Len had changed back into his leather jacket -- though she had no idea how he had managed to stuff it into the coat of his parka and bring it with them.

Dez had stripped off her coat as well. (She was use to longer sleeves to hide her scars, but that coat had been unbearably hot in the slightly warmer weather.)

She couldn't stop thinking about what Killer Frost had said. How Leonard was going to die. She kept stealing glances at him, but he didn't even seem remotely effected by the news.

But Dez's mind was racing. How did it happen? When did it happen? How long did they have until then? Did Rip know about this?

Barry was setting a timer on his watch as they arrived. He'd changed clothes as well -- now wearing a stealthy black jacket and jeans.

"What's that?" Len asked, nodding to the watch on the other man's wrist.

"It's how much time we have left," Barry said.

"Before what?"

"Before we lose."

Deserey knit her brows together, momentarily forgetting about Leonard's supposed up coming death.

She was really not liking the serious attitude of the Flash. Somehow, it just didn't look right at all.

Leonard fell silent a moment, as they followed Barry through the halls. He only broke it to add, "You do remember you have super speed right?"

Barry stopped walking, a perplexed expression forming on his face. "Oh yeah."

Leonard glanced over at Dez, and she could tell he was thinking something like, this is not going to end well.

She shrugged, not really sure what she could do about it. Barry was being faced with an impossibly difficult task, one that Deserey was still trying to wrap her head around even with all the other crazy meta human and time travel mumbo jumbo to vindicate it. Protecting a loved one from...well yourself.

She couldn't imagine any version of herself going after her family -- her kids, or even her ex. It was unthinkable. Barry must have been losing his mind.

Besides that her mind had drifted back to the thief himself. How could he seem so careless about learning his own fate? It was all too much…

In the blink of an eye, the trio was standing in front of, what Dez assumed was, the ARGUS building.

It was a big black structure, rounded so that it looked like an oval; the concrete below their feet was polished like marble.

Dez glanced up at the building as they ducked behind a sign that had: ARGUS building, United States restricted area written on it clear as day.

She snorted at the sign. "Subtle." Glancing at Barry with a raised eyebrow, "I thought you said this was a secret organization."

Her mind was still preoccupied with Leonard's fate and the Flash's mental stability, but bashing a government facility was much easier to think about at the moment. So, she focused all her attention on that.

"Uh, yeah," Barry said, sounding like he didn't really care either way. He probably didn't, but Dez kept going anyways, if not just to keep her mind off the news concerning Leonard…

"And our government can't afford proper school lunches yet clearly they have enough money for an expensive establishment for a not so top secret spy organization?" she vented. "What's up with that?"

Leonard shrugged. "Beats me. I never bothered finishing high school." He turned to Barry, changing the topic before it got too out of hand, getting them back on track. Like he wasn't apparently a dying man himself. "You said you had a plan on how to get in?"

Barry nodded, watching as a helicopter landed in the front lawn where they'd been standing just moments before.

A woman walked out with a group of guards surrounding her, stepping on to the copper as she talked on the phone. "That's the director of ARGUS. I'll disguise myself as her and bring you two in as prisoners."

Deserey gave him a once over. "Aren't you a little...masculine to be a female director?"

In response, Barry simply pulled out a small contraption from the pocket of his jacket.

At first, she thought it was a pen, but when he clicked it his form flickered; and in the blink of an eye the Flash was gone, replaced by a brunette woman. Her hair was styled into a cute little pixie cut, her hazel eyes glinting with an intense light in the night.

Deserey blinked, realizing Barry hadn't actually been replaced by the woman, rather that device had given him her face.

Even his clothes had changed from the dark jacket to a black bullet proof vest over a dark t-shirt and cargo pants.

"Whoa," Dez muttered, Len looking just as impressed next to her.

"Neat trick," Leonard commented.

"Transmogrifier from H.R.'s Earth," Barry shrugged. His voice sounded really odd being so much higher.

Deserey nodded slowly. She pointed at the device as Barry returned it to his pocket. "Why don't you just use that thing to disguise someone as Iris and have Savvy Boy kill them instead?"

Barry made a face at the nickname she'd given his latest big bad, but he didn't comment on it.

In fact, he didn't even comment on any part of her statement, because he looked like he was actually considering Deserey's morbid suggestion.

She blanched, smacking his arm purely out of instinct. "Stop! I was kidding! That was not a real suggestion, Barry! You can't save your fiancee by killing someone else!"

When he looked back at her it was hard to tell if his face was actually that passive or if Director Michaels had a naturally intense expression. "Yeah, no. You're right," Barry nodded.

"We should get moving," Leonard said, as the helicopter the real Michaels had stepped into took off.

Barry nodded and tossed them each a pair of handcuffs to put on for their little ruse.

Then, he took Leonard's gun and attached it to his own belt. "Remember we won't have our powers in there," he added to Dez.

Deserey nodded and fiddled with the cuffs for a moment before figuring them out. She'd only ever been handcuffed two other times -- once when she'd been getting rather experimental in bed and once when Daren had been going through that magic phase and she'd agreed to be his assistant.

(Side note, Dez was not a very good escape artist and she'd ended up having to wear those tiny plastic cuffs around for a month afterwards.)

She glanced at Leonard as the Flash took them by their arms and lead them towards the entrance of the ARGUS building.

His face was more than a little hard to read, completely void of any expressions; she imagined he got like that when he was on a job. All serious and stone cold.

But maybe it had more to do with learning his own fate than anything this time. At least, she assumed he was more worried about it than he was letting on. It would be hard to be indifferent about something like that.

For a moment, though, she caught something else too. The look didn't exactly break his stoic demeanor, but it did shift his face around the slightest bit.

Something in his eyes was a little different, also. She didn't think this look had anything to do with himself, though. It was something Deserey had only seen briefly when he'd been talking about his sister.

It was the same look he'd had the night before, just before she'd confessed about her accidental spying.

The same look he'd had all this time, worrying about Mick in that Russian prison. The same look that he'd, surprisingly, had when he and the others formed the suicide watch for her.

It only lasted a split second, so Deserey almost thought it was her imagination, but she was sure it had been there.

She frowned, turning to face forward as they stepped through the doors. Was Captain Cold actually worried for the Flash?

Barry lead them to the front desk, where a single guard was standing. They passed over a large circle painted on the floor, the same words printed on it as the ones on the sign outside.

Besides the desk there was nothing in the room, stairwell leading up to platforms above them; the walls and floors were black marble, a faint blue glow emitting from the lights in the side of the wall.

Deserey blanched, thinking ARGUS looked strikingly similar to the place she'd momentarily visited when she'd fallen off Barry's back. Briefly, she recalled the woman she'd seen. Who was she?

The guard stared at Barry's new feminine form, contorting his face in confusion. "Director Michaels, I thought you were en route to San Francisco."

"Plans changed," Barry told him, and Dez couldn't help thinking his voice still sounded odd with such a higher octave than it was supposed to have.

He must have thought the same thing, because he looked a little nervous. (Or maybe that was just because they were gradually running out of time.) "I received an unexpected gift from the Flash."

The guard glanced over at Leonard, his expression turning sour. "Captain Cold."

"Always nice to meet a fan," Len said sarcastically.

The guard turned his attention to Dez next, looking a little exasperated. "I see you've gotten yourself a new partner. What happened to the big guy?"

At the implication of Mick, Leonard stiffened the slightest bit. It wasn't enough for the guards to notice, but Deserey was right next to him so she'd felt him move.

"I'm taking the prisoners to lock-up," Barry said a bit impatiently.

"Of course," the guard said, his attention returning to the feminine Barry. "We'll just need your ID."

"I spent so much time on that ARGUS fake ID. That things a master piece." Dez jumped a little when Cisco spoke up through the coms.

She'd almost forgotten that Team Flash had Len and her trade in their comlinks from the Waverider and given them a pair from Star Labs before they'd left.

Barry pulled the ID from his pocket, though Deserey really had no idea how that worked since the ARGUS uniform he was wearing was part of the illusion.

He swiped it over the scanner, before returning it to his jacket pocket. The guard nodded curtly. "Your eye scan."

Barry leaned over, letting the machine scan his eye; the guard watched as the computer confirmed Barry's identity as Lyla Michaels, emitting a soft beep.

Leonard eyed the whole process, looking a bit bored. "You boys really dot the I's and cross the T's."

"Yeah, really," Dez nodded in agreement.

The guard ignored them, watching as Barry took a step back. "And finally, Director Michaels: Elvis, banana."

Barry and Leonard exchanged a brief look of confusion; Deserey raised her eyebrow.

"What the hell?" Cisco muttered.

"Search me. Elvis, banana," H.R. said before letting out a gasp. "It's word association. Barry must have to come up with the next correct words in the sequence."

"Ooh," Deserey said before she could stop herself. "I love word association games!"

The guard eyed her apprehensively, while Barry and Leonard gave her worried looks.

Meanwhile, Tracy, Linda, and H.R. had started throwing out random guesses through the coms. "Peanut butter, bacon?" Tracy said.

"Yeah. Kevin Bacon," H.R. said.

"Mellow, yellow?" Linda suggested.

"James Brown, split," H.R. added.

Cisco let out an exasperated sighed. "Okay, Barry, you're gonna have to stall!"

The guard looked at Barry when he'd failed to answer; the speedster was just standing there completely dumb founded. "I repeat, ma'am. Elvis, banana."

"Holiday, orange?" Deserey said.

She wasn't really expecting her response to be correct, but from the way the guard suddenly stiffened she figured she'd must have gotten it right. Dez laughed a bit. "Wow, really? I was just guessing. Was that really it?"

The guard squinted at her, looking suspicious. His gaze shifted from Barry to Dez a few times. "Director Michaels, how is it she is able to finish the sequence but you are not?"

Barry stood stalk still for a moment. But instead of coming up with a clever lie to get out of the situation, he leapt over the desk, slamming right into the guard.

They grappled around for a few moments, but Barry had knocked him out in a matter of seconds. (Deserey had to hand it to him, the guy worked fast, even without his super speed.)

"Boring conversation anyways," Deserey shrugged. Though, she didn't think either Leonard or Barry had understood her reference, (or maybe they just didn't care) which she thought was a shame.

Barry took the transmogrifier back out, ditching the female get up now that their cover had been blown. In a flicker of light, he was once again a much taller, leaner male dressed in the stealth suit.

Leonard glanced him up and down, that look returning again, just for a moment. "My, my, you're getting rather violent in your young age."

"Yeah," Barry said, not sounding very amused as he returned the face changing device to his pocket again. "What were you doing?" He gestured at Leonard and Dez.

"Watching you beat a bitch senseless," Deserey said, taking her cuffs off after a bit of struggle.

Leonard twisted his cuffs off and held them up for Barry to see. "Magic." (She tried not to look too envious that he'd managed to do it with such ease.)

"Neat trick," Barry said, repeating the phrase Leonard had said outside.

Len hopped over the desk; Barry gave him his Cold Gun back. Deserey walked around the desk like a civilized person as Barry spoke into the coms. "Cisco, where to next?"

"Okay," Cisco spoke up.

Deserey jumped when she'd suddenly heard his voice again. "Jesus Christ!" she cursed. "You people talk loud."

"Sorry," Cisco apologized, quickly moving on. "You will take the...east elevator?"

It should have been a simple statement, but the way he'd said it made Deserey think he didn't exactly know what he was talking about. "Are you sure?"

"They should take the west elevator," Tracy said.

"I agree with Tracy," H.R. said.

"I second," Linda said.

"Barry, take the west elevator," Cisco said, sounding much more certain this time

The elevator lead straight into a long, narrow hallway with concrete flooring and walls. A faint glow was emitting from the lights above, just bright enough for them to see where they were going, giving off an eerie vibe that really unsettled Deserey. On one wall, written in big, thick, blue letters was:

From around the corner, Deserey heard something that sounded suspiciously like roars.

She tilted her head to the side as she followed the Flash and Leonard down the hall. "Are those animals? What the hell is this? A frickin' zoo?"

Barry shrugged as they passed one of the cells, a beastly growl emitting from inside. Leonard eyed the glowing touch screen on the side of the door, reading the name of the occupant inside. "Who's Grodd?"

"Telepathic gorilla," Barry said, hardly even sparing the cell a second glance as he briskly passed it by. "I spared his life on another earth so he could attack Central City. That's what mercy gets you."

The bitterness in his tone was a little startling; Leonard stopped walking for a moment, sharing a look with Dez. His attitude was all wrong, and she sensed it too, even though she had only met Barry one other time.

For as long as Leonard had been fighting the Flash he'd been annoyingly up beat.

Even when Leonard had threatened his friends, he somehow still managed to see the bright side of things. To see the tables turned – it was unsettling to say the least.

"So...it is a zoo?" Deserey asked, hoping to ease the tension a bit. She stopped to peak her head inside the cell.

To say the gorilla was massive would have been a huge understatement. Dez guessed he was easily over fifty feet tall.

His fur was a wild mess, tangled and twisted in all sorts of directions; his teeth were razor sharp.

One of his fingers alone could have crushed a human within seconds, she imagined. Rough dark brown patches of skin formed over his round belly, his eyes beady and menacing.

He growled at her as he spotted her poking her head through the window, pounding a giant fist on his harry chest.

Dez cooed, pressing her hands to her cheeks. "Oh my gosh, he is so cute!"

Barry turned around. He stared at her, looking more caught off guard than he'd been upstairs. "Did you just say Grodd was...cute?"

"I did," Dez said, still gushing a bit at the beast inside his cell.

"...He tried to level Central City not too long ago," Barry reminded her.

Dez shrugged. "Still cute."

"He kidnapped Joe in the sewers and later took Caitlin because he thought she could make other gorillas like him," Barry went on. "We had to send him to another earth just to stop him. Then, he came back to destroy the city. And you think he's cute!?"

It was almost comical how affronted he sounded. Deserey merely shrugged once again. "I have a thing for beings people say are no good for me."

She was suddenly very aware of the way she could see Leonard from the corner of her eye, shifting next to her. "Besides, I'm sure he had a good reason."

She turned her attention to Grodd again, her voice becoming a little higher as she cooed at him. "Didn't you, Groddikins? Yes, you did. Humans are so nasty. Yes they are. Poor baby."

Grodd huffed, but she didn't think he minded her tone because he flopped himself in front of the door, staring back her.

She placed her hand against the window; the gorilla mirrored the movement, making her smile a bit.

Dez felt the judgmental eyes of the Flash watching her; she imagined he was rolling his eyes at her. "He tried to kill people. Probably has killed people."

"So? He's a gorilla. An animal. You can't hold him to human standards," Dez said without facing him. Grodd was still staring back at her.

"Well I can't just let him kill people just because he's a gorilla," Barry said, sounding a little more offended.

"I mean you could," Dez said, her voice taking on a tone of melancholy. "But you probably shouldn't."

She watched as Grodd stepped away from the door, apparently growing bored of having a staring contest with her. "Still, it's gotta be pretty weird for him, doesn't? I mean it's one thing for us to get powers from the Accelerator, but imagine if you were just some animal in a cage and then -- boom. Suddenly one day you're sentient and you can do all this strange stuff without explanation."

Inside the cell, Grodd curled up, going to sleep. "And then he's the only one like himself?"

"Eh. More or less," Barry mumbled.

"That has to be pretty lonely," Dez said quietly. "And I know what that does to a person, I don't think it's any different for any other animal. Kinda makes 'em like broken glass, I guess, all edgy and dangerous..."

She hesitated a moment, watching as the Gorilla drifted off into a deep snooze. "But everyone has some sort of tragedy. Maybe that's all anyone ever really is."

"What?" Barry asked, confused and maybe a bit impatient. "Broken glass?"

"No." Dez turned her head the slightest bit, glancing at him with a small smirk. "Edgy."

There was a brief pause in which they just stared at each other, Barry completely lost for words. It was only broken when Cisco spoke up through the coms again. "Damn that was deep..."

Leonard shook his head, walking further into the halls. "We're wasting time," he pointed out. "We didn't come here to psychoanalysis anyone, least of all a freaking monkey!"

"Gorilla," Dez corrected.

"Whatever. They're both primates," Leonard brushed off. "You keep watch. We'll get the tech."

She leaned against the wall, giving him a thumbs up. Part of her felt like he was just telling her to keep watch because he didn't want to be around her after he'd learned she'd invaded his privacy, accidentally or not.

Dez tried not to feel too hurt by that thought. After all, she'd be pretty pissed too if someone had been watching a private moment she was suppose to be having with herself.

Besides, she was pretty much useless on this one anyways. All she'd done was play a word association game with a guard, made a Star Wars reference, and wasted time ranting about the mental state of a gorilla. At least this way she was technically doing something and not making a mess of things.

Barry and Len walked off, leaving Dez alone with Grodd. A few seconds later there was a static-y noise emitting from the coms, making Deserey wince slightly. Barry's voice came through a second later. She could hear him from down the hall as well. "Cisco can you read me?"

"Loud and clear," Cisco responded.

"I think we found it," Barry said.

"Jackpot!" H.R. cheered.

"But," Barry continued. "There seems to be some kind of interference at the end of the hall, and the lock is the Montgomery 3000."

Deserey wasn't sure what that meant, but from the way he'd said it, she guessed it must have been something extremely high tech and advanced.

Apparently, she wasn't the only one confused, which she was relieved about. "Montgomery 3000?" H.R. said. "Wait. is that bad?"

"That's going to take some time to hack into," Linda spoke up. "We're looking at a twenty-five ton door that can withstand a thirty megaton nuclear blast."

"And aside from being completely bulletproof," Cisco added, "the Montgomery 3000 can only be unlocked by a voice-recognition system necessitating three different passcodes from three different people."

"And if that weren't already enough," Linda took over again, "the thing cost ten million dollars to build."

There was a loud clanking from down the hall, and Deserey heard Leonard speak both through the coms and as his voice carried down the hall. "Thirty-seven seconds."

"Uh, never mind," Barry told Cisco and the others. "Snart's got it apparently...ARGUS should ask for their money back."

"That was just a little over half a minute, and we were talking for more than half of that!" Linda said, sounding impressed.

Deserey had to admit, it was pretty awesome. She heard Leonard say, "Must be out of practice." But she wasn't sure if he was responding to Linda or not. She wasn't even sure he'd heard her remark with the dead zone down the hall.

Before she could even think about calling out and asking about it, another animalistic growl sounded throughout the hallway, and Deserey stood up right. She glanced into Grodd's cell but he was still sleeping somehow. Dez sighed and shook her head. This place really was a zoo

Leonard paused as he and Barry reached out to lift the massive red, metal door in front of them. "Wait..." he said quietly, recounting his rules in case Barry had forgotten them. "Make the plan, execute the plan..."

They jumped back as another animalistic roar emitted from the cell; at first Leonard thought he was hallucinating -- because that man shark inside the cell could not have been real.

Yet when he glanced over at Barry, it was obvious he was seeing the thing too. Unfortunately. "Expect the plan to go off the rails," Barry continued the rules.

They crouched down by the door, waiting until they heard the man shark stomp away. Leonard shook his head. "I've seen a lot of things, but a half man, half shark takes the cake..."

"I can't believe ARGUS turned King Shark into a guard dog," Barry muttered.

Leonard snorted. Is that what they were calling this thing? "King Shark," he repeated. "That's adorable."

Barry rolled his eyes. "Now you sound like Dez." There was a short moment of thought that crossed his face, then he spoke up with an idea that he clearly hadn't thought through. "Give me your Cold Gun."

Leonard eyed him apprehensively. His hand instinctively went to the gun attached to his belt. "So you can do what, exactly?"

"Snart, there's only one way that tech's getting out of here." Barry didn't hesitate to say his next words, but he still tip toed around what he actually meant. Good, at least that might mean some part of him still thought it immoral.

Still, it was more than a little off putting, hearing the Flash even insinuate such a thing. Leonard chuckled. "Oh, I see. You didn't just recruit me for my skills as a thief, did you? You wanted a partner who wouldn't mind if you got all murder-y."

Barry didn't even have the nerve to look guilty. He was so hell bent on stopping this evil version of himself -- Savi-stupid name -- that he was completely beside himself. "I told you what I'm up against, alright?"

His eyes held a sort of desperation that Leonard had always tried to prompt out of him. The kind where he'd have to sink so low as to ask for help from someone like him, to completely abandon his own morals.

It almost reminded him of the last time Barry had asked for his help, except this time it wasn't as amusing somehow.

Ugh, I'm going soft, Leonard scoffed inwardly.

"Give me the gun," Barry repeated in a tone of voice that didn't really sound like him.

Leonard shrugged, brushing off the uneasiness this new attitude was giving him. He withdrew the Cold Gun, passing it to Barry.

Barry stood up with the gun, aiming it at King Shark through the glass window. "Open the door."

Leonard found himself hesitating. It was annoying. He never hesitated. But something about Barry's tone was making him second guess his decision to come along on this thing.

Or maybe it was the fact that that Caitlin look-a-like had said he'd die at some point. Maybe people just naturally hesitated once they'd realized they were on the clock.

Either way, Leonard's sixth sense -- Alexa -- was starting to kick in, and he had a sneaky suspicious things were about to take a turn for the worst. He had to think of something to stop Barry, fast.

"Open the door," Barry ordered again when Leonard hadn't moved. Once upon a time, Leonard might have killed him for that. But now...

Now, he was just letting it slide and trying to think up a way to talk Barry Freaking Allen out of murdering a shark man even though he knew they should have probably just cut their losses and run. Because why? Morals?

God, I really am going soft, Leonard thought bitterly. What's Mick gonna say?

Absently, Leonard's hand drifted to his pocket, and he felt those ice bombs he'd found in the lab earlier rolling around. He paused briefly, an idea forming in his head.

"Have you ever seen Shark Week, Barry?" The speedster scrunched up his nose at Leonard's question. "Me, I can't get enough of it. Good thing the Waverider has cable."

Barry looked at him, perplexed, as he crouched down again. He was looking more and more confused the longer Leonard went on. In retro spec, it was probably a waste of time, especially with Alex gradually rising, but at least he looked some what normal again. "What's your point?"

"Most sharks are cold blooded," Leonard began explaining his idea, "but the great white shark, like our friend in there, is partially warm blooded."

Barry took a moment to think about it, and his eyes widened a bit as he realized what Leonard was thinking. "He's susceptible to cold."

Leonard nodded curtly. "Never strays into water colder than 53.6 degrees Fahrenheit. If we lower the temperature in the room to 53.5 degrees, King Shark will fall asleep like a little baby."

Barry nodded slowly, looking like he was coming around to the idea. "Or," Leonard added quickly, because he couldn't have him realizing he was going soft, "you can go ahead and kill him, and prove what a bad ass you are. Your choice."

He didn't say anything, just silently handed the Cold Gun back over. Leonard shot a quick glance around the corner, searching for Dez. He couldn't see her, though, and it worried him that he couldn't hear her.

With the interference at the end of the hall, they wouldn't be able to communicate very efficiently if something went wrong.

So, unless she screamed he'd have no idea what was happening on her end. He wasn't sure if it was good or bad that she hadn't said or done anything in a while. (He might have been annoyed with her at the moment, but he still made a promise to keep her alive.)

Alexa was rising steadily, now. They should have left. He knew it. Yet, for some reason Leonard found himself wanting to see this through despite the risk involved. He -- God help him -- wanted to help the Flash.

Leonard moved as quickly as he could, putting the Cold Gun back on his hip and bringing out one of the ice bombs.

Barry made a face at the weapons. "Wait a minute. Did you take those from Chloe and Cisco's lab?"

Leonard gave a brief shrug. He had no idea who Chloe was, but he didn't bother asking. Instead, he finished reciting the rules from earlier, "Throw away the plan." He slid the ice bomb under the door, as Barry lifted it the slightest bit.


	41. Infantino Street pt 3

**Again please excuse the unedited garbage I am presenting you**

Leonard slammed his elbow against the paneling he'd destroyed earlier as the cell filled with frozen air. There was a loud, thump! as King Shark fell on his ass, fast asleep.

On the other end of the cell, through the now rising smog Leonard spotted a device sitting on a raised platform. It was tall, four arms sticking straight up, with a glowing red substance at its center. Definitely alien.

Leonard guessed that's what they were after. He turned to the Flash, waving him into the cell. "By all means, you first."

"Thanks," Barry said sarcastically.

Leonard followed him inside, the two only pausing when King Shark let out a loud snarl in his sleep. The two jumped back, thinking he was already waking up. Leonard scowled when he realized they were safe. "Reminds me of Jaws."

They started walking again, Leonard eyeing the floor cautiously. "They didn't show the shark, because they couldn't afford to make it look good."

Barry didn't respond. He didn't have enough time to anyways, because a second later King Shark fin was seen poking up from the smog; Leonard froze for a second, catching Barry do the same.

Fortunately, the shark king went back down a moment later. Barry let out a relieved breath, and Leonard relaxed. They continued, slowly.

"How long do you think he'll stay asleep?" Barry asked nervously.

"I like Shark Week I'm not a marine biologist," Leonard shrugged.

Alexa continued steadily rising as they approached the tech, and Leonard was beginning to get a little antsy. He couldn't help thinking that this whole process would have been a lot smoother if Barry had been able to retain his speed in the ARGUS building.

Barry carefully removed the piece of tech he needed from the alien object... And that's when Alex came into play.

Immediately, alarms started blaring and lights were flashing. The door to the cells began closing fast; the duo forgot all about stealth, sprinting across the floor.

Barry managed to slide under the door and make it out, but Leonard was just a tad too slow. It closed a second before he could make it out.

Barry turned, suddenly looking a lot more like his goodie-too-shoes self. "Snart!"

"Barry!" Leonard would have been lying if he said he wasn't the least bit concerned about being trapped with a man shark, but somehow he found himself encouraging Barry to leave him.

He got what he needed to save Iris. He could have run off with the tech and saved Iris, yet he was just standing in front of the door looking uncertain.

Hell of a time to start caring again, he was putting the mission in jeopardy, risking getting caught. Like what happened to Leonard was actually important.

"This place is going to be crawling with ARGUS agents in the next two minutes," Leonard said. Barry still looked hesitant. "Look on the bright side, Barry. This is your chance to show how ruthless you really are."

Barry glanced back as Deserey came sprinting to the end of the hall. She looked back at the Flash, looking deathly serious. "Let me just say, if aliens wind up implanting eggs in my chest or something...and I eat one of you, I'm sorry."

Barry stared at her before exchanging confused looks with Leonard. "Wha?"

"No," Dez shook her head. "Okay, first of all, the line is 'I don't want another single pop culture reference out of you for the rest of the trip. You understand?' Second, I'm trying to say something is coming...and by something I mean ARGUS security."

She finally turned her head to the side and noticed Leonard's little predicament. Her eyes widened. "And third...what the hell did you guys do??"

Leonard flickered his eyes to the side nervously as he heard King Shark stirring. He turned back to Deserey and Barry, ignoring Dez's movie quotes. "Sometimes you gotta make a tough call, Barry."

Deserey blanched. She looked at Barry worriedly. "You're not gonna leave him in there are you?"

Leonard could tell he was thinking hard about it. He was torn, almost visibly, between saving Iris and saving Leonard. It was almost hard to watch. Barry sighed, moving to the end of the hall.

"Barry?" Deserey said, but he didn't respond to her.

Instead, he put his hand on the comlink in his ear. "Cisco, we need your help. I have the energy source, but Snart's still trapped inside the cell with King Shark. You gotta open the door." He paused for a moment, listening to the engineer's response. "Hurry, alright?"

Barry walked back over to Dez and Len. "Cisco's working on it." He suddenly looked very worried, and Deserey let out a soft squeak from where she stood next to him. "Whatever you do, don't look behind you."

Naturally, Leonard had to turn around. King Shark was rising up from the left over smog of the ice bomb. He loomed over Leonard threateningly, snarling his big, sharp teeth down at him.

It was one of those rare moments Leonard deemed appropriate to let his emotions show. (That and pretending the beast didn't scare the living shit out of him had become quite taxing.)

"He said don't look behind you," Deserey said, sounding nervous herself.

Len ignored that comment, scooting against the door as far as he could like that would somehow help anything.

All he could think of was the thing Not-Caitlin said about his death. He really hoped it wasn't death by shark... "If Cisco saves my life, tell him I'll...put in a good word with my sister."

As if the engineer had somehow heard that statement and become inspired by it, the door opened just wide enough for Leonard to slip through.

He wasted no time, ducking under the door frame instantly, Barry urgently waving at him and muttering, "Come on, come on, come on!"

Leonard was about half way through the door, when King Shark grabbed him by the legs and started yanking him back into the cell. "Barry! Dez!"

"We got you!" Barry said. "We got you, hang on!" The two sprang into action, each taking one of his hands, tugging as hard as they could.

With difficulty, they pulled Leonard through the door the rest of the way, allowing him to slip out of King Shark's grasp; all three of them fell to the floor, panting.

"Now, Cisco! Now! Close it!" Barry yelled.

Just as King Shark reached his hand under the doorframe, grasping desperately for one of them, the door close. It slammed over his wrist, severing his hand clean off.

Leonard winced. "Ouch. Been there."

"I said I was sorry!" Deserey huffed.

"Okay," Barry sighed, as they got up and approached the door nervously.

Through the window, they saw King Shark's hand/fin grow back in a matter of seconds. He snarled at them, letting out an angry cry of, "Flash!"

Barry glanced at Dez, still panting a little. "Please don't tell me you think he's cute too," he mumbled.

She was quiet for a moment; Leonard blinked at her, flabbergasted. "Really?" he said. "After he tried to eat me?" Deserey just shrugged in response.

He rolled his eyes, and Barry shook his head. "Let's get out of here," the speedster said. Leonard had absolutely no problems with that idea.

Unfortunately, before they could even turn down the hall, they were stopped again by the sight of a gun being aimed at their chests. The ARGUS agents had arrived, Director Michaels standing at the front.

"Lyla!" Barry said with a guilty chuckle.

"Barry," the woman sighed.

"I told you I couldn't give this to you." Director Michaels, Lyla, stood in front of the trio, looking absolutely cross. She held the piece of tech Barry had worked so hard for, that Leonard had almost died for.

The ARGUS agents had moved them back upstairs, and now they stood on one of the platforms over looking the lobby where they'd first come in at.

Leonard was leaning against the glass banister, his cool demeanor returning now that the threat of dying was over. Almost like he had never even happened. It sort of baffled Deserey the way he could extinguish all his emotions just like that.

"Yeah," Barry said, shifting awkwardly.

"And you snuck in here anyway?" There was the Parent Tone again. Lyla narrowed her eyes at the Scarlet Speedster, and Deserey shivered a bit. It was like looking into a mirror -- everyone mom wore the same face when they were angry at their children. (Or in this case a red clad super hero.)

"To save Iris' life, Lyla," Barry reminded her. "Yeah, I'll do anything."

Lyla's expression softened a bit at this. She let out a short sigh through her nose. "Not anything." She paused briefly. "I saw the whole thing on the security monitors. You could have left Snart to die, but you risked your freedom and Iris' life to save him."

"So..." Deserey said slowly. "Because of his incredible and honorable heroic ways, you've had a change of heart and you're going to give him the tech thingy and let us leave?"

Lyla remained silent, only emitting another soft sigh in response. She held the piece of tech out for Barry, and the speedster took it apprehensively as if he thought it would be some cruel joke.

"Really?" Deserey grinned lightly. "That's so nice! I didn't think it would actually happen."

"Yeah," Barry agreed. He looked at Lyla as if thinking she was going to snatch it right back. "You're just gonna let me have it?"

Lyla shrugged. "I couldn't let Iris die knowing that that could save her." She nodded curtly at the tech. "And I know you'd do the same thing for me if it were John's life on the line."

"...Thank you," Barry said, still looking stunned.

"Now, go!" She spoke urgently with an undertone of hurry before I change my mind! "Do it." The director glanced at Leonard and Deserey. "And get these two back to wherever they belong."

"Took the words right out of my mouth," Leonard said, moving to walk down the stairs. Barry nodded as he and Dez moved to follow.

The run back to the past was a lot smoother than the one to the future. At least, Deserey didn't fall off.

Barry had changed into the Flash costume, and Deserey had slipped back into her coat. But Leonard remained in his leather jacket.

Deserey couldn't help wondering if that was because he felt control was even more out of his grasp than before, what with the news from killer Frost and the events that had transpired.

"Tell me, Snart," Barry said curiously as they came to a stop in front of the Waverider, "did you think I had it in me? To leave you behind?"

He sounded a little more chipper now, a little more like how Deserey figured he was supposed to sound. But the edge was still there. The worry. The desperation.

She thought he was only asking for some reassurance. He'd scared himself by delving into the deep season of angst, maybe in some ways he was even comparing himself to Savitar, and he wanted to know if he could resurface.

Leonard eyed him for a moment, probably picking up on the same thing Deserey was. "I wasn't sure. I've always known you had the potential to be as ruthless as they come. Your history made sure of that, same as mine."

Deserey was sort of surprised he brought that up. She rarely ever heard him say anything about his 'history.' But he probably figured since both Dez and Barry already knew it wasn't worth beating around the bush anymore.

"Who knows, maybe that's why we get along," Leonard went on. "You see the good in me, I see the bad in you."

"Maybe," Barry agreed.

Leonard glanced at the Waverider, then back at Barry. "Piece of advice: stop trying to best Savitar at his own game. Your goodness is your strength."

Deserey grinned. "Aww," she cooed.

Leonard rolled his eyes. "Call me sentimental -- I think the Flash should remain a hero."

Barry nodded, a soft smile of his own forming on his lips. Deserey looked at him, letting out a long, heavy sight. "Dang. Okay. Now, I'm inspired to give a long winded speech. Okay. Well, you know I never say anything optimistic, but here goes..."

Barry turned his attention to her, nodding slowly as she shoved her hands in her pockets, shielding them from the bitter cold winds. After a moment, words came to her.

"The thing about knowing your own future is that once you know about it you can't unknow it. So, you're sitting there, constantly thinking about it, constantly waiting for this one particular day to pass."

She couldn't stop the thing Killer Frost said about Leonard from crossing her mind again.

"And if you don't like it, you feel like you're just prolonging the inevitable, wondering how bad it's gonna hurt when it finally arrives."

Barry looked down at this, shuffling his feet a little, his mind no doubt turning to Iris. Deserey could hear Killer Frost's words ringing in her own ears now, though she wasn't sure why it was effecting her so much. She hadn't realized just how much the Legends had come to mean to her in such a short time. Dez shoved the thoughts aside and kept going.

"And I think that's what makes it so dangerous to look at. But you know the other thing about time travel?"

She waited until Barry looked up again and then went on. Part of her was assuring herself about Leonard's death as well as Barry about Iris'.

"The future isn't always set. Time is always in flux, always changing. It's not set in stone. What you see is only a potential future. Not the future."

Deserey paused for a moment, a small grin forming as another thought came to her.

"It's sort of like the beach. You're standing in the sand, staring out at the water, watching the waves move around wildly. It looks kind of scary, maybe even a bit dangerous. In fact, you're pretty sure that it's a hurricane. Or a tsunami.

"You're terrified of the water crashing down on you, destroying everything you care about -- your friends, your family, yourself. And maybe it will. Maybe you'll fall in head first and drown trying to fight against it. But the current isn't set in stone either. The water changes. It's not always tsunamis and hurricanes.

"Sometimes they're just waves. Sometimes they're not as big as you think. And if they are... Well, that could always change, right?"

Barry stared at her for a moment, letting out a short little laugh. "Okay, that was a pretty good motivational speech for a pessimist," he joked.

"I know right?" Deserey laughed. "I can't believe I said all that without messing it up. I totally nailed it!"

"That was a lot of metaphors," Barry said.

"Yeah, Heatwave's been giving me writing lessons," Deserey told him.

Barry nodded. "Oh, okay. That makes se -- wait. Heatwave's been what??"

Leonard glanced at Dez curiously. "How did you know about that?"

She blinked. "I was just joking." Slowly, she broke out into a huge grin as Barry's mouth fell agape. "Does he really?"

Leonard nodded, smirking as the duo in front of him shared a look of pure shock. "Yeah, he's got a type writer in his room on the Waverider and everything." At their baffled looks he went on.

"It started out as a bet when we were both drunk off our asses and watching Pinocchio for some reason. He said he could of written it better, so we made a bet. Guess the hobby stuck."

He let another smirk form over his lips, though this one almost looked like a sincere smile. "Now, he's got this huge manuscript in his room, tucked away in the safe in the back."

Dez grinned widely. One never would have guessed she'd tried offing her self the night before. "Oh, I am so going to read it."

Leonard shrugged. "Watch out for the bear trap." Deserey wasn't sure if he was joking about it or not, though.

Barry chuckled at the pair of them, shaking his head and muttering something inconceivable under his breath. "Take care of yourself, Snart." He turned, giving a curt nod to Deserey. "Dez."

"No strings on me," Leonard responded. Deserey smiled lightly at the reference.

Barry gave one final nod of acknowledgment before taking his leave. With a flicker of yellow lightening, he was gone.

"No strings on me," Len repeated softly once the Flash was gone.

Deserey watched him from the corner of her eye. For a moment, she just stood perfectly still, not even really bothered by the chilly wind that was invading her privacy once again.

She considered that quote. Before she'd never really thought much of it. Just some silly line thrown in about a puppet cutting his strings off.

But since she was in a literary mind set already, it was starting to make a lot more sense to her. It was much more significant than just the literal interpretation.

The whole story of Pinocchio was about a boy stemming from a different background, a kid who wanted to be real. To be validated. Just like everyone else.

The strings represented everything holding him back -- his naive tendencies, the lying, the baddies trying to lead him astray.

The strings also controlled the puppet, so maybe by cutting them off it represented him gaining freedom. He couldn't be controlled by any means because he'd cut all ties with everything that was holding him back. Then he became a real boy.

Deserey felt a small prickly sensation in her chest as she suddenly became acutely aware of the parallels in her own life.

Ever since they'd started this whole thing with Vandal Savage, the immortal man had been trying to control them in some way or another. He'd attempted to rape Kendra, had done so in past lives. He had kidnapped Carter, and he was trying to torture answers from Martin.

The Time Masters also came to mind. The way Druce had tried to trick Rip and had so obviously been manipulating him all his life. The way the Time Council thought they could just order their team around like any of them even worked for them.

She thought about the night the Particle Accelerator exploded. How she'd thought it had ruined her life, turned her into a freak.

And she remembered those few years she'd spent roaming the streets after her parents had kicked her out. She recalled the desperation, the loneliness she'd felt. All that anguish and fury. Just a sad, pathetic little girl, wondering why she wasn't good enough and expressing it with anger and cringe worthy street art.

It had never really dawned on her before that moment how much she related to Pinocchio's character. Deserey had never realized just how many strings had been tugging at her all this time, how tangled up in them she'd been.

Even her depression was one big, nasty string wrapped around her throat.

She glanced at Leonard, realizing from the solemn look he was wearing that he must've been having similar thoughts -- his dad, his criminal background, his own depression and self-esteem issues, Killer Frost's death prophecy, all of his strings.

And with a start she realized what he was really saying when he said, "No strings on me."

He was cutting them off. He was becoming a real boy.

And in that moment, Deserey decided she wanted to be a real girl too. She nodded slowly in agreement, speaking quietly. "No strings..." It was surprisingly vindicating; she found herself wishing, above all else, that the feeling would last forever.

 **Boy, oh boy, was this chapter a journey. I have pretty much been looking forward to it since chapter one.**

 **That speech Deserey gives Barry? I've had that sitting, waiting in my drafts ever so patiently for its time to come for, like, half the year of 2019 probably.**

 **But man. I wasn't expecting it to be such a struggle, especially since I've had the whole thing planned out for months.**

 **I had to rewrite it twice because it was just not working in my favor, and I even contemplated having Dez be fake Lyla instead of Barry, and I'm still a bit worried that she was more annoying or something this chapter... But I think we got through the chapter pretty okay. Hopefully it was enjoyable anyways**

 ** _that's all for now, toodles!_**

 **~ Elsie**


	42. Enter Hawkwoman

**Super, super short chapter cause I think I lost my mojo**

Carter managed to grab one of the weapons from the shattered cases -- a long knife made of golden jewels.

He held it up as Savage advanced on him, swinging to block his next attack, but it did him little good.

Savage grabbed the blade of the knife, not even flinching when blood began seeping out from the palm of his hand. He flipped the knife around so he was holding the hilt instead.

Carter kicked him back, which turned out to be a mistake. A sharp pain shot up his leg, courtesy of the bullet wound injury he'd gotten from the labs, and he only managed to move Savage back the slightest bit.

He screamed in pain, his hand instinctively going to the injury on his leg.

Savage raised the knife, preparing to stab him, and Carter, in spite of himself, flinched as he waited for it to come.

This was it. He was sure. This was how he was going to die. Not even a heroic death or anything like a few previous life times. Nope. Just cowering and being pathetic.

Only it didn't happen. Savage suddenly froze in the middle of his action, a big ugly smirk forming on his face like he'd just won the lottery.

Carter's heart sank. He knew that look. He'd seen it enough times to recognize it -- it was that look Savage always got when he got the chance to Kendra and him at the same time.

He wasn't sure how the others could have possibly found the place so quickly, but the thought of Savage getting anywhere near Kendra set him off again.

Carter lunged for Savage, using his wings to propel himself with a much faster speed.

He punched Savage, sending him stumbling a few feet; but when he landed again, Carter's injured leg gave out. He fell, wincing in pain.

Savage moved forward and grabbed Carter by the throat, cutting off his air supply. He slammed him into the wall and pinned him there, readying the knife to stab him again.

With a smirk Savage, sneered, "Change of plans. I'm not going to kill you yet. First, I'll show her what a real man looks like. And I'll make you watch. Perhaps, in your next life, then, you may actually be worthy of her."

The firey rage ignited again, but there wasn't anything he could do about it now. Carter's vision was blurring as he struggled to get air to his lungs. He swung out weakly, but he didn't hit anything.

Savage dropped him roughly. Carter coughed and gasped for breath. "You're not going to touch her!"

Savage merely smirked and calmly said, "I already have."

Carter glared at him and tried to get to his feet again, only to immediately fall back down, grimacing as needles fired through his legs. He grit his teeth, cursing under his breath.

Savage seemed to find the whole thing amusing. Like aw look at this poor pathetic guy trying so hard.It just pissed Carter off even more.

"Oh, I do love it when the roles are reversed." The voice brought both men's attention towards the door, both blanching with shock.

Apparently whatever force granted Savage the ability to sense Chay-Ara didn't also grant him the ability which version of her it was.

Because the woman standing in the doorway was not Kendra, and she did not have the Legends with her.

Instead, she stood by her lonesome, a small smirk spread across her soft pink lips. Her skin was smooth, lighter than most of her other incarnations.

Her hair was tossed over one shoulder, that shade that he could never really place. Brown? Red? He wasn't sure which it was, but it had always been stunning.

Dark blue eyes sparkled with a sort of lightness that managed to steal Carter's breath away worse than Savage's strangling had.

Her voice, thick Russian accent seeping through, was smooth like butter on toast even as she spoke with such firmness; her eyes bore into Savage's with such ferocity, like he wasn't a mad man who had killed her time and time again. Like she wasn't even remotely afraid. "For instance, when the princess saves the prince."

Carter recognized her at once. But then this one had always been hard to forget -- her strength and tranquility were hard to ignore. She was one of the few incarnations of her that he would always remember, no matter how warped his memory got once they'd moved on to their next life.

Her name was Sharon Parker in this life. Carter was shocked to see her, to say the least. The memory of their life in the eighties was pretty hazy -- he only really recalled bits and pieces -- but he was positive that they hadn't lived anywhere near this place. He supposed she could have moved after he'd been killed, though.

She raised a blade of her own -- a silver blade, curved slightly, with a golden hilt, decorated with red jewels.

Carter recognized that as well. It was his sword once, from his life as Alexander the Great.

Sharon was dressed in a thick coat that really should have hindered her ability to move, but when she attacked Savage she was able to move swiftly.

She pushed him back, slashing at him with her blade. Sharon forced him back several paces; Savage retaliated by slapping his own weapon back at her, tossing the knife at her head.

Sharon narrowly dodged out of the way, letting the knife fly right passed her. She grinned at the look of confusion on Savage's face. "Any other day I might've let that knife pierce my heart. But not today. Maybe tomorrow, but not today."

Wings sprouted from her back, and she soared into the air, knocking a near by shelf on top of the immortal, trapping him under it. Then, she landed next to Carter, eyeing him wearily.

He thought she was going to say something like, "Oh thank the gods you're not dead!" But instead she just gave him a once over and said, "You look different."

Carter stared at her for a moment, dumb founded. "Uh, yeah." He hesitated. "It's a long story."

Sharon hummed softly, turning towards the exit. "Then, you might not want to tell it here. He won't stay down long."

Carter nodded as they started forward, only to stumble a second later thanks to his injury. Sharon looped one of his arms over her shoulder, smirking slightly. "Princess really does save the prince this time." She grew serious again. "Let's hurry."

They moved hurried out of the room, barricading the door once they'd made it out. It was a good thing too, because a second later Carter heard Savage getting to his feet.

But he imagined that he had another quick exit planned out, so he refrained from feeling to much optimism.

Sharon pried a near by window open, looking back at him with that sharp gaze of hers. "You can fly, yes?"

Carter nodded curtly. "Uh, yeah, I think so."

"Good. Then, do it." Without any further warning, Sharon shoved him out the window.

It turned out, they were pretty high up. About thirteen stories. Carter sucked in a breath of surprise; and for a moment he struggled to get his wings out. (Part of him couldn't help thinking it was pay back for shoving Kendra off that roof back in Star City, even though technically that hadn't happened for Sharon yet.)

Once he'd steadied himself he was flying smoothly though. Sharon was flying next to him, smirking softly at his clumsiness as she flew with ease.

He rolled his eyes. But he didn't bother to say anything. (Talking and flying wasn't a very good idea unless you wanted to catch flies in your mouth -- a lesson that he had learned many, many times.)

They didn't speak until they were several miles away from Savage and wherever he'd been keeping him. They landed on the roof of a building that sat in the middle of no where. Carter wasn't entirely sure where they were. He was just hoping the Waverider was near by.

He eyed Sharon carefully. "When did you become such a bad ass?"

Sharon shrugged, looking serious. "I always have been it's just that the opportunity for lady heroism rarely ever arises."

Carter snorted. "Just wait until the twenty-first century."

She gave him a look of confusion. "Pardon?"

He shrugged. "Part of that long story I mentioned."

She nodded slowly, looking out into the horizon; the wind caught her hair, brushing it back behind her like a cape.

Carter felt as if he'd been punched in the gut. He'd almost forgotten how beautiful she was in this lifetime; a sense of affliction over came him.

It was strange. He knew she was technically waiting for him on the Waverider -- as Kendra Saunders. She was still alive and well. But part of him still missed her.

To him Sharon was dead. He may have died before her in this lifetime, sure, but it didn't change the fact that Savage had killed her -- or would kill her depending on how one looked at things. She was gone, and their time together was over.

He hadn't realized just how much he'd mourned for her every time she was taken away, not until he saw her right then.

Carter suddenly felt himself deflating, sinking to the floor of the roof top as his leg began throbbing again -- though it was nothing compared to the throbbing of his heart.

He found himself longing to hold her again, missing the way she felt in his arms, the way it felt when they touched. And some part of him felt a little guilty for it, because he'd already found Kendra. They were already together again. He shouldn't feel anything for another woman, even if she was technically the same person.

But he had loved her too. More than anything. He'd loved each of her incarnations in every life; it was hard to reconcile with. Never once had he imagined he'd actually see any of them again, and now that he was he really didn't know what to do with himself.

Especially when she looked back at him with those eyes -- those blue eyes that had always stolen his breath away. Every single time.

The Russian accent was new, but somehow he didn't mind too much. It made her all the more attractive. "I suppose you can tell it now."

 **Sort of a rocky start. I apologize. Fight scenes are not my forte, especially when I have no guide lines to help me.** **But I just really adore writing Carter as this love sick puppy when it comes to Kendra (or any version of Chay-Ara)** **Like in canon he's portrayed as this annoying pushy bastard that I can't stand. And my version is super kind and sweet and shit and I totally dig that, you know?** **Course I'm biased because it's my own stuff. What do you guys think? Have I improved the hawks any? Or am I just making it worse? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!** ** _that's all for now, toodles!_** ** _~ Elsie_**


	43. Interlude 6

The handle creaked slightly, the water splashing out of the faucet as Deserey turned the tap on with a small, genuine smile. "Okay, stick your tooth brush under there -- there you go! Good job!"

Daren, just three years old, grinned, showing off his tiny little baby teeth as his father lifted him up so he could carry out his instructions.

Darryl set him down a moment later to do the same with a four year old Anita.

Deserey turned the tap off and grabbed the toothpaste, showing it to her kids. "Now, you just use a little bit. You remember how much?"

"I do! I do!" Anita said, jumping up and down a little bit. "You make the toothpaste as big as a pea!"

Deserey nodded in approval, smiling at her daughter proudly. Darryl brought the childrens' attention to him for a moment to ask, "And how do you brush?"

"In a circle!" Daren answered quickly, grinning from ear to ear as he got a nod of approval from his parents.

Deserey got down on her knees so she was level with the children, getting ready to squeeze the paste onto their toothbrushes.

"Wait!" Anita stopped her. She held her little hand out for the toothpaste tube. "I want to do it!"

Deserey and Darryl shared an apprehensive look with one another, each sure that this could only lead to a massive mess in their bathroom. But the little girl was persistent.

"I know how," she said. "They teached us at preschool."

"Okay," Deserey relented, handing her daughter the tube. "Be careful."

Anita squeezed the toothpaste on to her toothbrush and then proceeded to do the same with her brother's. Deserey nervously hovered for the entire process, but thankfully any messes that might have been were avoided.

"Good job!" Deserey told her proudly.

Anita grinned as her mother took the toothpaste from her and gently placed it back on the sink where it belonged. "I told you I can do it!"

"Yes you did," Deserey nodded, laughing lightly along with her. "You're such a big girl now."

Anita grinned happily at the praise and began brushing her teeth. Daren started brushing right after, moving is tiny hand in small, circular motions.

Deserey and Darryl watched over their children while they brushed, making sure they didn't accidentally choke themselves or drop their brushes.

Once the kids had finished brushing, the kids rinsed off their brushes with their parents' assistance; then Darryl and Deserey each carried a child to their bed rooms.

Deserey took her daughter to her room, which happened to be the one at the end of the hall with the green camouflage bed sheets and toy trucks thrown all across the floor.

Meanwhile, Darryl carried Daren to the room with pink and purple wallpaper and fluffy princess bedspread.

It was something a lot of folks deemed backwards or even immoral in some cases. Though Deserey had always thought it was funny when they had guests over and they had trouble figuring out who's room was who's.

She and Darryl had been given more than a few funny looks from strangers as they caught them buying "girly" toys for their son.

It didn't happen as often when they bought Anita a "boy-ish" toy, but it did occur every now and again.

Some annoying bastard would click their tongue against their teeth, shaking their head with disapproval. Muttering under their breath how they were, "just confusing those poor children."

But what Deserey found confusing was the fact that her children getting the toys they'd asked for was so wrong.

The mentality really set her off. Darryl had had to hold her back from fights or even toss her over her shoulder and drag her out of the store on more than one occasion because of her ugly temper.

Deserey tucked her daughter under her covers nice and snug before kissing the top of her head. "Night, bebita."

"Night, night, Mommy," Anita said with a little yawn. She was already starting to doze off.

Deserey smiled lightly, turning to leave, only to stop a moment later when she realized there was a toy truck in her path. She turned back to her daughter. "Promise you'll clean your room tomorrow?"

"Aw," Anita pouted. She'd always hated cleaning her room.

"If you do, we might go out for ice cream," Deserey tried with a hushed tone.

Anita gasped, and she knew she had her attention. "At Ingrid's??" That was Anita's favorite ice cream shop down the road; it was a special place in which Anita and Deserey shared.

Deserey smiled back at her daughter. "Uh, huh. But you have to clean your room first."

"Okay!" Anita nodded eagerly. "I will first thing when I wake up. I promise!" Her words were a bit lispy, due to the girl only being four years old.

"Okay," Deserey nodded as she stepped around the trucks to get to the door. "I'll hold you to it. Don't forget!"

"I won't! I won't!" Anita said. Then, her eyes widened like a thought had just come to her. "Oh, mommy. Don't tell the boys, too! It's just for us. Okay?"

Darryl appeared a second later, pretending to pout at her words. "Aw. I want in on the secret."

Anita shook her head firmly. Deserey shrugged when he looked at her. "I'm sworn into secrecy."

"Oh," he said, dragging the word out slightly. "Well, if you're sworn in." He grinned at Anita, stepping around the toys to get to her bed. "I guess I'll have to tickle you for the information!"

Anita squealed, giggling uncontrollably as her father began tickling her sides. "Mommy, help!" she laughed out.

"Don't worry, I'll save you!" Deserey maneuvered around the toys again, jumping on her husband's back. "Rawr!"

Luckily, Darryl was use to this by now, so he was able to keep his balance fairly well. Still, that didn't stop him from faking it. He yelled dramatically, "Oh no! I've been defeated, aah!"

He pretended to fall over, Deserey still on his back. Anita cheered, and Deserey high fived her daughter as Darryl pretended to be vanquished.

After a moment, though, she got off Darryl's back and kissed her daughter's head again before taking her leave and moving down the hall to Daren's room.

Daren was frowning at the closet worriedly when she came in. He looked up at her, and she knew what he was going to say before he said it. "Mommy, can you check for monsters?"

Deserey tilted her head to the side. This was something an older kid at preschool had convinced him of, that there were monsters in his closet and under his bed, waiting to eat him up for bad behavior. "Didn't Daddy already look when he tucked you in?"

Daren nodded, but he still looked worried about it.

"He didn't find any?" Deserey asked.

Daren shook his head, yet still he looked afraid.

Deserey hummed and gave a small shrug of her shoulders. "Well, I suppose it couldn't hurt to check twice, right?"

She moved closer to the closet, Daren warning her to be careful. Slowly, Deserey pulled the closet door open, knowing full well there wouldn't be anything behind it. She just needed to show her son that.

Deserey examined the contents inside the closet with a thoughtful frown. Of course, there were only his clothes and a few toys tucked away in their places. "Hm. I don't see any monsters in here."

"You can't see them. They can be invistbile," Daren told her, mispronouncing the word invisible.

Deserey poked her finger in the closet, not surprised when she didn't feel anything except empty space. She turned and smiled at her son lightly. "Nope. No monsters in here."

Daren pointed at the bed, covers pulled up to his little chin. Deserey moved across the fuzzy carpet and ducked down to see under the bed.

Like the closet, Deserey poked her finger under the bed and once again, she was only met with empty space.

She got up and moved to sit on the edge of his bed, smiling. "No monsters."

Daren grinned a toothy little grin and relaxed. He leaned back against his Snow White pillow, curling up into his covers. Deserey leaned forward, kissing his head. "Goodnight, bebé."

"Goodnight, Mommy," Daren said, closing his eyes to go to sleep.

Deserey got up to leave, seeing that Darryl had already turned on Daren's night light for him.

She was about to leave the room when Daren called her back. "Mommy, can you sing a lullaby?"

Deserey turned around, sitting on the edge of the bed again. "Which one?"

"The Spanish one," Daren said. His eyes were still closed, and he was clutching on to his stuffed bear so she thought he would be asleep before she even started, but she agreed anyway.

She didn't need him to specify which Spanish lullaby he was asking for. Deserey only knew the one, having learned it from an ex. (Her ex had taught her some basic Spanish along with the lullaby when they'd been dating. Before... Well, that wasn't important...)

The lullaby was called A La Nanita Nana; it was often sung as a carol in the holidays for Baby Jesus. Deserey had been singing it to her kids since they were infants.

Deserey began singing softly, brushing her son's hair out of his eyes as he gently drifted off into a slumber.

As she suspected, Daren had fallen asleep before she'd even gotten half way through the lullaby. But she finished it anyways, letting the nostalgia wash over her like the shower head in their bathroom.

Once she'd finished the song, she gently kissed the top of her son's head again, quietly leaving the room.

Darryl was waiting for her on the couch when she made her way downstairs.

She flopped down next to him, laying her head on his chest, smiling as she listened to his steady heartbeat. He wrapped his arm around her, holding her close.

"Daren's asleep," she said, looking up at him.

"So, is Anita," Darryl said, looking back down at her.

Deserey snuggled into his chest, taking in his scent. "Mm. Guess that means we have a few hours alone."

"Yup," he agreed. "So, what are we gonna do with them?"

"Hm. Let's drink shots."

Deserey felt his chest vibrate slightly as he chuckled at her suggestion. "You can't drink more than a few sips before acting insane, and we don't have any booze."

"I meant with the orange juice," Deserey said, a grin tugging its way on to her lips.

"Oh, so we're getting really crazy are we?" Darryl joked.

"Mhm," Deserey laughed, sitting up. "I'll get the glasses. You get the juice."

The duo got to their feet, each parting to fulfill their tasks. Once they'd each gotten their items, they met again at the island in their kitchen; and Darryl poured them each a shot of orange juice.

Then, they drank to their hearts content. Slightly less fun without getting drunk, but still amusing nonetheless.

They stayed up for a few hours more, drinking their shots and quietly goofing off until they grew tired and went to sleep themselves in their own room upstairs.

~

It had been three weeks before Anita saw Oculus again. She had returned to her mundane life as an ordinary girl. Her father insisted she do that much, despite her insisting that they should find Oculus.

The Flash would definitely need help with that Shark monster that had been in front of their house, and Oculus could really help him! (That and he could no longer deny the Flash's existence if he'd worked with him.)

But her father wouldn't allow it. He was absolutely positive that Oculus was some dangerous lunatic who'd kidnapped his daughter, despite Anita telling him that she'd gone with him on her own accord.

Besides, Darryl had insisted, the Flash would have his own super friends on call if he really needed some help.

So, he'd forbidden her from seeking out Oculus, and Anita listened if not just because he could have been anywhere in any time.

She didn't have any resources to travel through time. The technology to do that likely wouldn't be invented for another few decades.

Even if she did somehow get a time machine in the twenty-first century, she would have no idea where to begin looking. Luckily, she found something else to occupy her time.

It looked like thing were going to go back to normal -- which is to say, pretty boring. She'd have to spent several weeks catching up on school work, stay after school to take any tests she'd missed. Dull. Boring. Stupid. Life.

But Daren proved her very wrong. They were sitting at their bus stop, Anita leaning against a near by tree while Daren sat on the curb looking through the pictures on his camera.

Anita sighed when suddenly her brother sat straight up as if he'd be shocked with a jolt of electricity, a small gasp escaping his lips.

He sat stalk still, staring out at the wet concrete in front of them, eyes wide. When he spoke it was just above a whisper, and Anita almost missed it. "Anita, I think I know who the Flash is!"

She stared at him when she registered he'd said anything at all, thinking she must have misheard. "What?" Anita moved to sit next to him, setting her backpack next to her. "Who?"

Daren showed her the screen of his camera, scowling through the pictures he'd taken three weeks ago.

There were images of the shark man and Flash too, but there was also an image of the lightning trail Flash left behind when he ran -- it lead right behind the Wests house.

Anita stared at the picture in shock for a moment; then she turned to her brother, stunned. "You think he's one of the Wests?"

Daren nodded, putting the camera back into its case. He stood up, getting excited about the idea now. "Think about it. All the weird stuff that seems to be attracted to their house. That shark guy said he _smelled_ the Flash there three weeks ago, and then he immediately shows up after. And of course the picture. It makes sense!"

Anita nodded. She had to admit it did make sense. Her brother had gathered a lot of evidence; still, not yet concrete. He'd need a little more than a few ideas that sort of checked out. "Okay," she said slowly. "But which West is it?"

Daren looked thoughtful for a moment, and Anita thought he was going to give up due to sheer laziness. But again he surprised her, saying, "Well, not the daughter. She's not the right gender. And not the dad cause he's too old. Also they're both black, and Flash is white. Only white dude that lives in their house is the adoptive son."

Anita made a face. "How do you know Mr. West has an adoptive son?"

"We've been living next to them for over fourteen years, Anita!" Daren gave her a look like _duh_!

She rolled her eyes, only for him to frown guiltily a moment later. He sat back down. "Also, Mr. West is a cop, and when you went missing Dad called him. I may have listened in on a few of their conversations..."

Anita snorted and rolled her eyes. Of course that's what her brother had done. He had a nasty habit of eavesdropping on other people's conversations, which was why Anita made sure to never take any phone calls around him.

"You happen to catch this guy's name?" Anita asked.

"Yeah. Barry I think," Daren said, bringing his camera back out and playing with the filters on the photos.

Anita blanched, remembering a name she'd heard when she was traveling with Oculus, something Ralph and Julian had told her. "Is his last name Allen?"

Daren shrugged carelessly, apparently tuning out now that he'd 'figured out' the Flash's real identity. He'd always had a short attention span. "Maybe. I know he's the CSI at CCPD though."

Anita stood up, getting a -- admittedly -- very stupid idea. She glanced down the street, hearing the school bus from a few blocks down. "Will you cover for me, Daren?"

"Nope," he said honestly, jumping to his feet again as he placed his camera in its bag once more. "Where are you going? I want to come to."

Anita groaned. She glanced down the road again. They really didn't have time for this, the window of opportunity was closing fast. "Fine, fine. You can come, I guess. Just be quiet and do what I say. I'll explain on the way."

She ran off down the road before he could say anything else, and she assumed he was following.

Getting inside the CSI office was surprisingly easy. Apparently cops were pretty gullible.

Once they'd found the CCPD building, the Dunet siblings walked in without any trouble. When the police captain stopped them, Anita told him they were reporting a theft; he took them into an upstairs office to take their statements.

Once he'd left the room for some paper work or something, Anita crept out into the hallway, leading her brother through the police station until they found the room they'd been looking for.

The back wall was made up of rectangular windows with black paneling and red brick pillars between them. On either side of the room shelves stood; glass containers sat on top of them, filled with multicolored liquid.

At the center of the room was a bulletin board, tacks pinning news paper clippings and images of suspects to its surface.

Next to it was a desk with more science equipment -- microscopes, gloves, something like looked suspiciously like a mini fridge, and loads of other items Anita couldn't name if she tried.

Anita grabbed her brother by the arm, ducking behind one of the shelves in the room, signaling for him to keep quiet.

Moments later a lanky man in his twenties came into the room, a bag slung over his shoulders and a mountain of paper work tucked under his arm, coffee mug in one hand.

He ran his fingers through his short brown hair, letting out a long, heavy sigh. His brown eyes scanned the work apprehensively as he placed it and the mug on the desk.

Anita guessed this must have been the CSI guy her brother had mentioned.

Barry-Hopefully-She-Wasn't-Wrong-Allen. Though, if he really was the Flash, he wasn't moving very fast.

If anything, he should have been a snail themed super hero, not a scarlet speedster.

The Dunet siblings watched silently as the CSI guy sluggishly got out his lap top and started his work.

He seemed rather stressed and maybe a bit depressed. (Though Anita supposed she would have been too if she had to mull through that much paper work.)

They watched for several minutes, but nothing even remotely interesting happened. Antia groaned inwardly, starting to think that she would have had better luck finding excitement at her school.

At some point the CSI accidentally bumped his coffee mug with his elbow, causing the cup to shatter and create a huge mess on the floor.

He sighed, closing the folder he was working on and slowly rising to his feet. Anita heard Daren suck in a breath as he came near their hiding spot; Anita covered his mouth.

For a moment the CSI froze, his hand hovering just above the broom and paper towels he'd been reaching for in the first place. He moved closer to their hiding spot, having clearly heard the noise.

Anita's heart hammered in her chest; she bit her lip nervously. Next to her brother, stiffened. Anita shoved him down to the floor, pressing herself down as well, sure that they'd be caught.

Fortunately, the CSI was distracted a moment later by the captain calling his name. "Allen!"

The CSI turned around, looking a bit jumpy. "Captain Singh. Yeah. I'm here. Hi. Uh, what's up?" He fiddled with his hands awkwardly as walked off, speaking to his boss.

Anita wasn't sure if he carried so much nervous energy because he was afraid he was in trouble or if he was just a naturally anxious person.

Though she didn't think about it too much, her mind drifting to other places. The captain had said his surname. Allen.

"Did you see two kids run through here?" the captain asked in confusion, and Anita belatedly realized he was talking about her and Daren.

The CSI shook his head, giving his boss an odd look, like he thought he was just messing with him. "I -- uh, no. I didn't see any...kids..."

"Huh," the captain said, looking even more confused. "Okay, then. How's the paperwork coming?"

More awkward looks from the CSI. "Good. Yeah. Good. Uh, I'll have them finished...soon." He didn't sound as if his heart was in it though.

"Good," the captain nodded in return. "I'll leave you to it then." He turned and exited the room.

The CSI sighed heavily again, standing in the center of the roof and running his hands through his hair.

He eyed his stack of papers with a crestfallen expression, though it looked a little more than just someone who regretted their choice of occupation.

It was almost like he was missing something, something that had helped him get through the work much faster, something that had been lost.

But Anita wasn't thinking about that. She was focusing on the fact that the captain had called him Allen. Allen. Barry Allen. The same guy who worked with Cisco Ramon in the future. Anita was sure of it.

She'd found Barry Allen, and, assuming they'd been life long friends, that meant she was getting very close to finding Cisco Ramon.

~

 **I was going to do another interlude and make it about the hawks past life but um...yeah. Chapter right before this is also about them so...not doing the same thing twice**

 **So, then I got this idea while I was at my mom's yesterday for my doctor's appointment about Deserey and Darryl teaching Anita and Daren to brush their teeth and so I just kinda went with that instead. The hawk thing will just be later or whatever**

 **Also Anita and Daren's first sibling team up! What do you think? It takes place after Flash's Verses Zoom episode and like right at the beginning of Back to Normal. You probably know the scene.**

 **Uh, sorry if it's a bit lack luster with details and stuff. I've been...meh lately so...yeah.**

 _ **that's all for now, toodles**_

 _ **~ Elsie**_


	44. Prison Break (Not As Good as Canon)

**Small note before we begin: I, uh, I was going to do a LOT more with the 80s, but you know I'm just not...I'm not feeling it any more.**

 **So, for now I'm going to just get them out of this time period because I'm frankly bored and want to do other things. (As a result this chapter might be slightly rushed)**

 **Maybe later when the story is finished I'll have deleted scenes/one shots for the scenes I cut out. We'll see how much space is left... Anyway, enjoy!**

 **~**

While Rip and the others left the ship to integrate mafia leaders, Kendra and Jax were stuck in the bridge with their new friend.

It wasn't very practical, but all three of them had grown extremely bored so Kendra figured it wouldn't be too much of a big deal if they let Michael out of the brig for a bit.

Gideon didn't provide much entertainment, despite being a time ship from the future that could play any form of media throughout the time line.

So, the trio settled down in the middle of the floor, playing word association games. Carter's dog stayed at Kendra's feet the whole time, whining sadly as she ran her hand over her fur softly.

They played until Sara and Rip returned from the integration, Sara rolling her eyes at something Rip had said.

"Where's Dez and Snart?" Jax asked, looking up at them.

"Outside," Sara said shortly, moving to flop down in one of the chairs. She glanced at Booster Gold with confusion. "Why is he out of the brig?"

"We got bored and he didn't seem very threatening," Kendra shrugged, getting to her feet.

Michael shrugged, but he stayed quiet, which seemed a bit out of character.

Kendra asked, "Why are Dez and Snart outside?"

"Because, Miss Saunders, I am going to win our little bet," Rip insisted.

Kendra stared at him, mouth agape. "You can't just shove them together!That's cheating!"

"Mr. Rory and Dr. Palmer are practically being shoved together in the gulag," Rip reasoned. "This is only fair." He turned towards the console at the center of the room. "Speaking of which, we should be getting them out."

Kendra had been expecting a lecture about taking Booster Gold out of the brig, but he didn't seem to care all that much. It was odd, she thought, but inevitably she decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Jax rose to his feet as well, looking at the captain suspiciously. "And I'm guessing that by 'we' you don't mean us, right?" The younger man gestured at himself and Kendra.

"Correct," Rip nodded, causing Kendra to scoff and Jax to role his eyes. He was being so unfair!

"We can help!" Kendra insisted.

"We have already had this discussion," Rip said, sounding a bit agitated.

"It wasn't really much of a conversation," Jax huffed. "Look, man, I can feel whenever they start in on him. He's holding on but --"

"Is that a beetle?" Sara interrupted. Kendra followed her gaze and saw that there was indeed a beetle crawling along the floor of the Waverider. A blue beetle.

Booster Gold jumped to his feet, looking slightly panicked. He just had time to let out a small, "Crap."

And that's exactly what happened next, everything went to crap. The beetle transformed into a man of average hight, dressed head to toe in black and blue spandex. Blue beetle arms and wings sprouted from his back.

In an instant, Sara was on her feet, bo staff in hand. She swung the staff around, only for the beetle man to duck under the swing and fire a laser the assassin's way.

Sara moved swiftly, narrowly dodging the laser; she sent a high kick at the man, but he recovered quickly.

Kendra jumped in, her own wings springing from her back as she flew at the beetle man. She punched him in the face, but he quickly recovered, grabbing her leg and swinging her into the wall.

Jax charged as well, but the beetle man brought him down just as easily, mostly due to the state he was in. With one swift hit to the jaw, Jax was brought down.

Rip fired his own laser, but the beetle man fired another blast from his suit, knocking the weapon from his hands.

Sara was about to attack again, but Michael jumped between them. "Stop! Jesus, what's the matter with you people?" He glared at the beetle man, "I had it under control, Ted. You didn't need to show up!"

"Ted?" Sara frowned, lowering her staff as Kendra helped Jax to his feet.

"Then, why did you send out a distress signal?" the beetle man, Ted apparently, asked.

Michael shrugged. "Skeets jumped the gun."

Ted rolled his eyes, lowering his mask to reveal a man with short brown hair. Sara looked slightly shocked to see the man underneath the mask. She didn't know him personally, but she knew who he was -- Ted Kord of Kord Industries. "Well, I'm sorry about all this, but apparently my friend here is an idiot." He nodded at Michael, who let out a sharp, "Hey!" in protest.

Blue Beetle glanced at Sara for a moment. "Do I know you?" Before she could form a response he answered his own question. "Yeah, I think you tried to rob me once." He held up his hands as if trying to see what she'd look like with a mask over her eyes.

Booster Gold rolled his eyes. "Your conversation skills are fucking astounding, Ted."

Ted rolled his eyes right back at his friend. Before he could say much of anything else, a voice brought everyone's attention to the other side of the room, "Did somebody just say 'rob' and 'me'?"

"No, no robbing anyone, Mr. Snart," Rip said sternly as he spotted Deserey and Leonard walking in to the bridge.

"Whatever," Leonard shrughed, probably planning to rob everyone anyways. "Are we getting my partner back now or what?"

"And everyone else..." Kendra added with a mutter. Leonard pretended not to hear her.

"Yeah, let's get this over with," Sara sighed.

"Let us help you," Ted offered. "It's the least we could do after this idiot made me attack you all."

"For the record I didn't make you do anything," Michael pointed out.

Everyone ignored him. Rip looked apprehensive about the whole thing, but ultimately he let them help because Kendra and Jax were still benched, and honestly he didn't have a whole lot of time to argue with them over it.

The team quickly discussed their plan before heading out. (Kendra and Jax were still moody about being benched.)

Rip held Sara back for a moment to tell her something private, but in the cargo bay Leonard guessed what it was about: Rip wanted her to ice Stein if things got too hairy.

They were dropped at the edge of the prison via prison truck driven by incognito Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, and Sandstorm. As they dropped to the ground Leonard pestered Sara about killing Stein.

"You want my advice?"

"No."

"Don't do it with the gun. Do it with your bare hands. Do it while you're looking right into his eyes."

"Len!" Dez scoffed over the coms scoldingly.

"...You're talking about a member of our team," Sara huffed.

Leonard shrugged, not really looking like he cared much about the ladies' protests to his remark. "Just don't want you to forget who we're taking about."

They crept inside and stole a gurney, which Sara laid down on and pretended to be a rotting corpse as Leonard pushed the thing through the halls.

"So, how does it feel to be dead again?" Len joked. Sara responded by kicking at him lightly.

"Take the next left," she huffed.

They turned coming to a stop at their checkpoint. Sara jumped off the bed and started preparing her gun for the show down.

Leonard moved to part ways. "Kay buy."

"What are you doing? We're suppose to rescue Stein first."

"That's Rip's plan, and I think I've made it abundantly clear I don't care about Rip's plans."

Sara rolled her eyes, annoyed. "The plan is to rescue everyone, not just Rory! We're starting with the professor because the future is in jeopardy if we don't! And he's this way." She pointed down the hall.

"Uh, actually Marty's right here."

Leonard and Sara whirled around, surprised by the voice. They saw Ray, Mick, and Stein all standing in one of the doorways, Booster Gold's robot hovering between them.

"Guess now you don't have to kill him," Leonard muttered to Sara. She elbowed him as Stein gave him a concerned look.

"I beg your pardon?" the professor said.

"Your pardoned," Leonard sassed. "Let's go."

"How did you guys escape Savage anyway?" Sara asked as they hurried back outside.

"Oh well, apparently Mick still had Skeetz here in his coat pocket, which is lucky because he was able to help the professor escape Savage and Vostok, and then they helped Mick and I escape our cell," Ray explained.

"Huh, well alright then," Sara shrugged.

They reached the outside courtyard, sneaking their way past guards and other prionsers. Booster, Sandy, and Beetle were waiting for them via the jump ship just beyond the main gate.

"That was surprisingly easy," Deserey commented.

"Yeah, the guards were very lazy," Leonard agreed. He'd broken out of many prisons before, and he was underwhelmed with the guards to say the least, especially considering this prison was suppose to be inescapable. He was unimpressed to say the least.

"What about Carter?" Sara wondered.

"Uh, he actually just showed up?" Kendra said.

"Huh?" Dez frowned.

"Long story. I'll explain when you get here." It was Carter who'd spoken.

Back at the ship everyone exchanged stories. Dez told everyone about 2017 Barry coming back from the future to get her and Len. (She just wanted to tell them she'd seen a giant gorilla and shark guy.)

Ray and co. told them a more detailed account of their story. And Carter told everyone how a past reincarnation of Kendra had helped him. (She had also told him the name of the dog, which was Luna.)

Dez got excited upon learning the name of the dog. She ran around Rip's office searching through his things. "Quick, I need a glass pannel, a pen, and a paper!"

"This better not be a Good Will Hunting Thing," Rip sighed.

Dez scribbled the name Luna on a paper as she found one and a pen, ignoring his comment. Instead she grinned and asked, "Do you like apples?"

Rip stared at her with exasperation.

"Humor me. Please."

He sighed. "Fine. Yes."

She slammed the paper on the glass of the parlour and said, "Well, we got her name. How you like them apples?"

Rip rolled his eyes as she was thrown into a fit of laughter as if it were the most hilarious thing ever. The dog herself looked very concerned for the human's sanity.

"Does that mean she can stay?" Kendra asked, petting the dog.

"That was the deal," Carter nodded.

"Fine. Alright. But you all are taking care of her!" Rip insisted.

"Well, this group is...fun," Ted commented.

"Yeah, but we need to get going. Places to be. People to smite," Michael said.

"Right well, good luck with avenging your family or whatever," Dez said sobering up suddenly.

"Yeah and good luck with killing the unkillable."

"I'm sure we'll all see each other again," Rip said.

"Most likely," Ted and Michael agreed.

And with that Booster and Beetle left the ship, Skeetz floating behind them. Ted pressed something on his watch and a portal opened up before them; the two stepped through and disappeared.

"Their way looks much less...side effect-y," Dez said. Rip rolled his eyes.

"Yo can we get the hell out of the 80s already?" Jax said.

And so the Legends slipped into their time vortex. Apparently, Leonard had stolen liquor at some point so everyone was toasting with that...except Dez who drank orange juice due to her lightweightism.

Their toast was quickly interupted though. Chronos attacked and everyone strapped in. "Man this guy has impeccable timing!"

Chronos shot the Waverider out of the time zone. The ship came tumbling down. "We're crashing out of space and time," Rip informed everyone in a panic.

 **ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ's ɴᴏᴛᴇ**

 _I realize this chapter is...not my best work. I promise the next one will be better. It's just that I wanted to be done with this thing already, because I'm impatient and hate when plots take too long_

 _So...yeah. Like I said before, probably do the other stuff like in like a deleted scenes part or something. We'll see._

 _Um, so technically I'm still on hiatus for at least another week, but I wanted to get this up because I also wanted to say that I'm going to try to finish writing all of the next half of this story before posting._

 **ᴛʜᴀᴛ's ᴀʟʟ ғᴏʀ ɴᴏᴡ, ᴛᴏᴏᴅʟᴇs!**

~ **ᴇʟsɪᴇ**


	45. Earth 38

Deserey clutched on to her arm rests, her knuckles turning pale. Her jaw was clenched so tightly it ached, but she didn't dare losen it up, lest she accidentally bite her tongue.

The ship shook so violently, her vision blurred; the lights above flickered, and the wires on the console sparked and snapped right out of the monitors.

On either side of her, her team mates were clutching onto their harnesses and trying not to slide too much in their seats as they were rapidly being thrown back and forth like a bullrider in a country club.

Luna the dog howled as she tried to stand up right, scared and unsure what was happening.

Deserey's heart pounded in her chest; she struggled to keep her eyes open. In front of her, through the large window, the usual green waves of the temporal zone were swirling, changing color, turning into a deep, vibrant blue with silver outlining. Just like Deserey had seen when she and Leonard had been running with Barry.

When the Waverider merged from the portal, the scenery changed from icy Siberian landscapes, to a scolding hot sandy desert area. Though, Deserey wasn't sure if they were still in 1986 or not. The Waverider took a nose dive towards the sand dunes at the edge of the desert; for a moment Deserey thought they'd crash. The ship was still shaking violently, and Luna the dog had taken to hiding in the parlour. Deserey wished she could join her, the tremors throughout the time ship whipping her around in her seat despite the protection of the harness around her.

Something moved from the other side of the field; dust was kicked up from the force of the movement. Dez was sort of surprised she managed to see it from up so high. But the ship was falling so fast, she might have just imagined it; and she worried that if she moved around too much in effort to see for sure, she'd snap her neck. She didn't need to in order to confirm it was real, though, because apparently the others saw it too.

Sara squinted to the front of the bridge, clutching her arm rests. Somehow, she managed to speak up without biting her tongue. "You guys saw that blur right? Was that a bird?"

Kendra frowned, apparently possessing the same talent Sara had, to speak in the midst of violent trembles and shaking while falling at death defying speeds without biting her cheek off. "I think it was a plane, actually."

"You're both wrong," Rip said, evidently also having the same talent. He was oddly calm, as if they weren't about to crash and possibly die. (Then again, they'd been crashing a lot lately. Everyone on board the ship must have just been use to it by then, especially the captain.) "It's Supergirl."

"Who?" Sara asked.

A blur of red and blue whooshed across Dez's line of sight. For a moment, just a split second, she saw a woman. Maybe in her early twenties, blonde, pale skin, long red cape flapping behind her. The woman, Supergirl according to Rip, dived under the Waverider. Suddenly, the ship started leveling out, falling at an increasingly slower pace until it felt as if they were merely landing after a normal time jump instead of crash landing. Deserey yelped in surprise at the sudden shift, the ship gently settling down in the sand. It was sort of rocky and the ship was still grinding a bit, but at least they weren't dead.

"...What just happened?" Deserey asked. Her hands shook as she hesitantly pushed the harness over her head. It was a little hard to breath, and she was afraid she'd fall if she tried standing up.

Martin stood up himself, fixing his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "Unless I'm assuming incorrectly, we have just breached to another earth." He looked at the captain for confirmation, and when Rip gave him a curt nod in response he grinned to himself. "Astonishing!" When he began rambling on about the science of it all and the "possible outcomes" of their lives, Deserey tuned out.

Fortunately for her poor ears, Mick cut the raving scientist off fairly early into the rant. "Sounds boring. Wake me up when the action starts." He immediately fell asleep, snoring quite loudly, leaving Dez to wonder how he could doze off so quickly. She envied that and vowed to figure out his trick some day.

"So, where are we and how soon can we leave?" Sara asked.

Rip tilted his head slightly slightly up to the ceiling, signaling a response from their AI. "By my estimation, we will be able to make one small jump, but the ship has been severely damaged thanks to the missiles, I won't be able to get us back to earth one without a few repairs."

"I'm on it!" Jax said, jumping to his feet. He walked to the back of the room to get his tools from the parlour, passing a whining Luna on the way.

Ray grinned brightly as he stood up too, as if nothing had gone wrong at all. "In the mean time, Dez, we can finally fabricate your super suit!"

Deserey blinked. "I almost forgot about that..." They had been so busy, what with everything that had happened in the 50s and then the 60s. It had been kind of a chaotic mess lately...

"I'm afraid that won't be possible, Dr. Palmer," Gideon informed. "The fabrication room has suffered great damage and won't be available for use for at least a few hours."

"Or longer if I can't fix the engine right away," Jax added. Luna barked to show her agreement.

"Oh." Ray pouted slightly, and Dez couldn't help but to empathize. Despite having forgotten about getting her suit, she had actually really been looking forward to it. Especially since Ray had seemed so excited about it. (His optimism may have been rubbing off...)

Before anyone could say anything else, a voice sounded from around the corner. It was female, light, almost too sweet. Like a spoonful of sugar on top of an already rich ice cream cake. A blonde woman, Dez assumed she was the one who'd saved their ship from crashing.

As soon as she spotted her, Deserey wished she hadn't already given Sara the nickname Barbie, because this girl was basically a blown up version of that doll. She had flawless pale skin, not a single pimple, scar, or freckle to hinder her beauty. Her hair cascaded down her back and over her shoulders, small ringlets curling at the ends; stunning blue eyes as pearly as the ocean beamed at the Legends with such a genuine care Deserey felt like she'd been punched in the gut. The woman was dressed in a blue suit with tights and a red mini skirt and knee high boots to match her cape. On her chest and emblem was printed: a red and yellow S shape. (Deserey guessed it must have been some sort of coat of arms.)

Dez clutched her arm rests until her knuckles paled. Her throat was suddenly extremely dry. She felt her whole body shaking for a moment, and she had to bite down on her fist to subdue the squeaking noise that was emitting from her mouth. Dez was aware of the fact that this made everyone else stare at her like she'd lost her marbles, but at the moment she didn't care much.

Luna trotted up to her, putting her paws on her legs, demanding to be petted; the woman obligated, lighting up like a Christmas tree. She cooed at the dog for several minutes, until Luna trotted off elsewhere and she realized Deserey was staring like a creep.

The blonde woman blinked. She glanced at the others, a concerned from written all over her face. "Is, uh, is your friend okay?"

Sara shrugged. Everyone else looked genuinely worried for Deserey's health. Maybe they thought she needed medical attention, but Sara just said, "She's fine. Pretty sure she just thinks you're hot. Which I mean..." She gave the woman a not so subtle once over which basically finished the thought for her.

The woman blinked, Deserey feeling her face heating up with embarrassment. "Uh...thanks?" The woman spoke slowly. She didn't sound weirded out or judgmental about it, but she was clearly taken aback. The woman shook her head. "Um, anyway. I'm... Supergirl, the protector of National City and this Earth... Unless you already know that?" She started fidgeting awkwardly and over explaining the way Ray did a lot. "I just assumed you were from another earth, because you came through the same portal thing that Barry did, and --"

"Wait, did you say Barry?" Ray asked, looking surprised. He shared a look with Martin and Jax. The hawks glanced at one another as well. "As in Barry Allen? The Flash?"

The woman nodded, smiling widely and pointing at him. "Yeah! Him! You're friends with Barry?"

"The opposite actually," Leonard cut in, sounding a little annoyed by the fact that everyone kept saying his name. He leaned against the wall, folding his arms over himself, looking somewhat like a moody teenager. The attitude towards the Scarlet Speedster sort of confused Deserey. He'd actually somewhat friendly towards him when Barry had asked for his help, but now he was acting like he hated the guy. Was it a love hate relationship then?

Kendra made a face, pointing back at the woman confusedly. "Wait. If he's on another Earth, how do you know him?"

"He was just here, like five seconds ago!" Supergirl said, pointing at the door way. "He left right before you crash landed here."

"Seriously?" Dez sighed. "Flash beat us to the multiverse thing?"

Supergirl shrugged and looked over the team. She put her hands on her hips, giving them all once overs. Deserey figured they probably weren't very impressive, but Supergirl didn't seem to mind all that much. She only really did a double take at Ray, eyeing him with a perplexed frown. "You...look so much like my cousin..."

Ray nodded and made a similar look of bemusement. "You know, I was just going to say the same thing. It's...it's really weird..."

"Yeah..." Supergirl nodded in agreement. There was an awkward moment in which no one said anything, the Legends and Supergirl shifting their weight from foot to foot and avoiding eye contact. After a moment, Supergirl over enthusiastically continued their conversation. "So, um, anyway! Are you guys okay? That was a pretty rough fall? And did you come here on purpose or was it an accident like Barry?"

So, with hesitant glances between the team members, they told her everything. Savage. Chronos. The Time Masters. Their plan to save the future. The whole gig. She listened with interest, nodding along to their story; when Ray explained about his exo suit and Jax and Martin's ability to merge into a nuclear super duo, she got ecstatic, letting out a little cry of, "Oh, yeah! Barry, mentioned you guys!"

When they were finished, it was her turn to tell a story. "When I was a child, my planet Krypton was dying," she told them, glancing at her feet. "I was sent to Earth to protect my cousin." She leaned against the wall, looking at the team of time travelers with an earnest expression. "But my pod got knocked off course, and by the time I got here, my cousin had already grown up and become Superman." Kara gave a small shrug, smiling a little with her next words, her pearly white teeth glimmering a little in the damaged lighting of the bridge. "And so I hid my powers until recently when an accident forced me to reveal myself to the world."

Kara pushed off the wall, taking a small step towards the Legends. Her smile was a little intoxicating, and Dez thought one of her lungs might have collapsed from just looking at her. "To most people I'm an assistant at Catco Worldwide Media. But secretly, I work with my adoptive sister for the DEO to protect my city from alien life and anyone else that means to cause it harm."

Leonard scoffed, rolling his eyes as she finished her little speech. He looked less than impressed and maybe just a bit annoyed. "Sounds like the opening of a terrible CW show." His tone was a little more snarky than usual, which made Supergirl pout a little; Deserey thought upsetting her was unnecessary and quite rude. (Or maybe she was letting her attraction get the best of her. Maybe she just needed to calm down, because she also sort of thought the pouting was adorable and irresistible.)

"Well, it was nice meeting you Supergirl," Rip spoke up. He sounded a tad antsy, like maybe he just wanted to get off this Earth as soon as possible. Deserey wondered if that was because he had already known who she was before she'd told them her name, and vaguely she wondered exactly how that was possible. Did Time Masters also learn about history on alternative earths? That seemed a bit unlikely and, honestly, redundant. "But we're needed back on our Earth, so we'll make our repairs and be on our way."

Kara nodded. "Right. Yeah. The Savage thing." She fiddled with her hands slightly as she prepared to leave. "Well, I'll let you get to it then. I...have some stuff to deal with her too, so..." She furrowed her brows, suddenly looking very worried. "That's...that's weird..."

"What's weird?" Sara asked, instantly on edge. Deserey spotted her reaching for her bo staff attached to her hips. She frowned. Was Sara expecting a fight? But instead of responding, Kara flew off in a sudden blur of red and blue, a gust of wind washing over everyone, knocking Dez to the floor. The team exchanged a few confused looks with one another, before Carter glanced out the window, eyes widening. There was a massive group of creatures that could only be described as aliens heading there way. "Maybe that?" he said.

Deserey's stomach dropped at the sight. She climbed to her feet clumsily. "Okay," she said slowly, "someone wake Mick. The actions about to start."

 **ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ's ɴᴏᴛᴇ**

 _I cannot tell you how good it feels to be writing this again. I didn't realize how much I missed this story until I started writing it again._

 _I guess that hiatus did me some good, huh? So, now I plan to have regular updates every other Friday (or Saturday depending. I will write Friday.)_

 _So...here we are! Finally at the Supergirl part of this story! Yay! I've been looking forward to this for a while. Also, this episode of Supergirl might change quite a bit, since having the Legends there will sort of make a few things more convenient for Kara. And uh...yeah. Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter!_

 **ᴛʜᴀᴛ's ᴀʟʟ ғᴏʀ ɴᴏᴡ, ᴛᴏᴅᴅʟᴇs!**

 **ᴇʟsɪᴇ**


	46. Interlude 7

There weren't a lot of times Deserey allowed herself to disappoint her kids. She wanted them to grow up healthy, happy, unlike she did. She wanted to give them the world and more. That's why she did her best to give them everything they asked for, show up when they needed her, even on those terrible days when she couldn't quite make herself get out of bed or focus on much of anything except for that ever present suicidal urge.

It was also why the holidays were so damned stressful for her. Even though she was atheist, society pressured her to celebrate Christmas. Buy buy buy, the promotional scams screamed at her. In all honesty, she didn't have the energy for it or even the money really. If not for her kids, she wouldn't have even put up a Christmas tree, despite the overwhelming sense of apathy the season thrust upon her.

Every year, she'd spend all of December buying every single item on her kids' wish list, even going so far as to sleep by the front door of the Toys R We store (something Darryl complained about her doing, but she insisted she could handle it; after all she had once lived on streets much colder than Central City's for three years). She'd shop until her feet and back were on fire, until she couldn't possibly push herself to go on any further. And even after all of that, she'd spend hours upon hours wrapping gifts, decorating the house, organizing Christmas parties and gatherings with Darryl's family. She'd bake cookies for Anita and Darren's classes at school, even though she wasn't particularly savvy in the kitchen. (Darryl would normally be the one to buy and cook their Christmas dinner because of that.)

There wasn't really time to stop and think about herself or the sheering ache in her heart that never really went away. There wasn't time to dwell on the past, even though it kept lingering around every corner she turned. And there was absolutely no time to spare for that untameable despair that kept trying to drag her down into the deep, dark depths of hell. She fought it all off, just for a short while, just so her kids could have one day full of hope, and happiness, and wonderment, all the beautiful things that were suppose to come with the holidays. Just so they could have one day where nothing awful, dangerous, or even mildly bad happened to them.

...But every now and again she lost that fight. Every year, as they got older and older, the shipping grew more difficult, more expensive, more exhausting; and every now and again she just couldn't bring herself to get to the stores and do any of it until the very last second on Christmas Eve.

One of the worst Christmases of all was when Anita was eight and Daren was seven. Daren had wanted this huge dollhouse, while Anita asked for a model truck. Those alone were a total of $350. With the addition of clothes and extra random things she and Darryl thought they'd like, she'd like spending over a thousand dollars on presents. And she only got paid $6 an hour...sure, Darryl helped with his work as a psychologist, but even so there wasn't enough to pay for it all.

Deserey wasted the whole month, trying her best to save up for the things her kids wanted most, but they'd been behind on the mortgage for at least three months, and she was working to catch that up as well. By the time Christmas Eve rolled around, all she could do was sleep for twelve hours straight, the shopping completely slipping her mind as she let herself slip under the waters of despair and apathy. It wasn't even until seven o'clock on Christmas morning, when Darryl shook her awake urgently that she realized they had a huge problem.

"Dez, Dez! Wake up!" he said frantically. "We forgot the presents!"

Deserey sat straight up in their bed, eyes widening. She smacked herself on the forehead, muttering, "Shit!" In retrospect, it wasn't a big deal. They could buy them any old thing the next day at the story, apologize, blah, blah, blah. But that would mean telling Anita and Darren Santa Clause was only a myth, made up to spark some kind of joy for the holidays. That would mean crushing their little spirits and ruining Christmas for them until the ends of time. Not something Deserey was willing to do, because getting presents from Santa on Christmas morning meant the world to little seven and eight year old kids.

"I was so caught up with the mortgage and the bills and -- ugh!" Deserey put her head in her hands, guilt washing over her like a hurricane. "I'm a terrible mother..."

"Hey, I forgot too!" Darryl reminded her, if not just to try and make her feel better. "If you're a terrible mother, then I'm a terrible father!" He wrapped a comforting arm around her, and she leaned into his shoulder, groaning, his shirt muffling the noise slightly. After a moment, she pulled away, letting out an exasperated sigh.

"I don't know what we're going to tell them," Deserey mumbled, tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm a mess. And a failure...They're going to be so heart broken..."

"No, it's okay! We can still fix this. There has to be some place still open, right?" Darryl said.

Deserey shook her head. "It's Christmas, Darryl, every toy store is going to be closed!"

"...yeah, yeah, you're right. But we need something! We can't just tell them Santa got lost on the way over!"

Deserey's eyes widened, jumping to her feet with excitement, all signs of sadness and guilt fading away in an instant. "Actually, that's exactly what we can do. Give me the phone, I have an idea!"

Twenty minutes later, when Anita and Daren ran down the stairs, confused and disappointed to see no presents under the tree, they were met with their mother talking loudly with the phone pressed against her ear. There was no one on the other end, just the dial tone ringing in her ear, but the kids didn't need to know that. "Yeah, hi, I'd like to speak to Mr. Clause, please. I just woke up and there are, like, no presents under our tree. And the big guy specifically told me Anita and Daren were extra good this year and he had a very special gift for each of them!"

The two kids perked up when they heard this, exchanging hopefully glances. Deserey fought the urge to smile at the sight. She turned towards the tree, keeping up an annoyed tone as she spoke to the dial tone. "Yeah, the name is Dunet. D-U-N-E-T." She nodded, pretending to listen to someone on the other end. "Uh, huh. Okay. I'll hold. Thank you." She waited a full minute, impatiently tapping her foot for good measure as her kids hovered behind her, trying to see what was up with Santa skipping their house. Or maybe they were just amazed by the fact that their mom had Santa Clause's number.

As soon as Deserey decided she'd paused long enough, she spoke up again. "Hi, Santa." Another brief pause. "Yeah, that's right. There isn't a single present under the tree...uh, huh...I see...alright. I'll tell them... Oh, no. No, problem at all. I'm just glad we got it all figured out... uh, huh. Merry Christmas, bye bye." With that, Deserey hit the end call button, even though she hadn't actually been talking to anyone, and hung up the phone. She turned to her kids, letting out a genuine, exasperated sigh. "I'm so sorry, kiddos," she said honestly. "Santa took a wrong turn and completely missed our house. But," she added when Anita and Darren began pouting. "He promises to make an extra special trip just for you on New Years day, extra presents and everything!"

"Yay!!" The kids cheered. It wasn't long before they were running off again, opting to play with one of their older toys for the day instead.

As soon as they were out of sight, Deserey collapsed onto the sofa, letting out a big, heavy sigh. Darryl, who had been watching from the door way to the kitchen, moved to sit with her, smiling lightly. "Smooth," he complimented.

"I still can't believe I didn't get anything..." she pouted, leaning on his shoulder. "I've ruined Christmas."

"One slip up does not ruin Christmas," he told her. "And you didn't screw up alone. Neither of us could make it happen this year, and that's okay. They're just glad to know we have Santa's number."

Deserey let out a short laugh, actually feeling somewhat better. "They are so going to want to talk to him all year now..."

Darryl chuckled, nodding in agreement. "One problem at a time. Let's save this Christmas first."

"Good plan." So, for the rest of the day that's what they did. Instead of opening gifts, they took Anita and Daren out sledding and instead of spending all day cooking the meal they hadn't bought, they crashed Darryl's brother's dinner party with his wife and kids. Anita and Darren were very happy to see their cousins and inform that their mommy and daddy personally spoke to Santa and even had his phone number; and Darryl's brother and his wife seemed happy enough to see them despite them dropping in unannounced, so all in all, it was a pretty okay Christmas that year, even though it was completely ruined.

 **ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ's ɴᴏᴛᴇ**

 _So, I wanted to write a Christmas special this year, but I didn't get around to it because work has been super exhausting! Naturally, I decided to post it on New Years Eve instead! (The events in the interlude here is a nod to that if you couldn't tell.)_

 _It's not the best written it could be, but like I said I'm tired. Besides, it's something. So, there you go! Similar to what Sara says in the season two LoT Christmas special, Merry Christmas, Happy holidays (because I can't spell any of the other holidays sorry), happy New Year, and whatever people who exist outside the time line say!_

 **ᴛʜᴀᴛ's ᴀʟʟ ғᴏʀ ɴᴏᴡ, ᴛᴏᴏᴅʟᴇs!**

 **ᴇʟsɪᴇ**


	47. Myriad

Aliens. Definitely a new one. Rip and Gideon had explained how aliens were real back in the fifties, sure, but actually seeing them in person... Well, that was something else, for sure. Deserey wasn't sure what to make of them. They weren't anything like Star Wars had lead her to believe, yet at the same time they looked exactly like what she'd imagined aliens would be. One man (or at least the figure she assumed to be male) donned blood red skin and silver spikes on top of his head, just like Darth Maul. She half expected him to pull out a double bladed light saber and start jabbing at her with the laser sword.

The Legends were vastly outnumbered, the amount of aliens only multiplying as more and more seemed to swarm from the direction Supergirl had flown off to. But Deserey didn't have to be a genius like Ray and Martin to know she had one huge advantage over everyone on that battlefield: the sand at her feet. She planted herself firmly, toes curling in her shoes, just itching to dig into the rough surface of the ground. She waited for the targets to get a little closer; for once in her life she was completely confident. This was her domain, her place. Similar to what Obi wan Kenobi once said, it was over. She had the higher ground.

Her team stood beside her, weapons and powers ready to back her up, but there seemed to be an unspoken agreement among the Legends: Deserey could handle this one.

Their enemies were only a foot away when Deserey acted. She didn't move an inch, the sand responding to her mental commands, something she'd never been able to do before. She'd always need a motion, a nod or a wave of her hand, to help complete the task. But this...this was something else. Waves upon waves of sand began swirling and twirling; and soon even Deserey was squinting in effort to keep the sand from her eyes. It was next to impossible to see so much as her own fingers in front of her face, but if she looked hard enough she could see the aliens being hit with several blasts of sand like a punch to the gut.

The Darth Maul look alike was dropped in two seconds flat after a clump of sand got sucked into his eyes. Behind his slumbering form, the specs of sand hit the weapons another group of aliens were carrying -- futuristic looking guns, made from tech that looked similar to that of Chronos'. (Deserey supposed some things were just universal that way.) She wasn't sure what fancy name the aliens had given them, if there was one, but it hardly mattered; because seconds later they were nothing more than the tiniest grains.

And things grew even stranger when Dez discovered yet another ability her powers gave her. The sand broke into four separate figures, shaping themselves into almost humanoid beings; those humanoid beings of sand finished off the last of the alien adversaries in a way that was much, much too similar to Sara's fighting style. There was even a split second in which Dez thought the figures sort of looked like the assassin. Then, all at once, the sand dropped back to the ground, dust quickly settling as if nothing at all had happened. The only evidence anything strange had occurred were the disfigured, inhuman bodies all lying unconscious or sleeping.

When it was all over, Deserey turned to her friends, soaking in their shell shocked faces, a huge grin of her own forming. "Yo, y'all see that? I'm like so fucking op right now!"

Mick was the first one to speak, of course. He eyed Dez up and down, giving her a deadpanned, "That was hot."

Deserey broke out into a huge grin, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "I know."

"Seriously, girl, you are bad ass!" Jax raised his arm, fist bumping her with a big 'ol grin plastered over his cheeks.

It was the first time in a very long time, or quite possibly the first time ever that Deserey had felt so appeased, so comfortable, so good. Everyone gathering around, praising her for the little tricks she'd just preformed. Any one of them could have just as easily taken the enemies out single handled, she was sure. Sara could have used her batons, Ray his suit, etc. etc. It didn't make her all that special, but for once she actually felt like she belonged among the rest of them. She finally had a place between the heroes and villains, with the Legends. A family within her team. She wasn't just the useless tag along anymore, and maybe in their eyes she never was. She had always just been one of them. Ironically, it was enough to make her a bit uneasy.

The compliments were put to an abrupt stop as Supergirl came flying back to the valley, landing rather roughly in front of the team. Deserey breathed out a sigh of relief, as they attention was brought back to the hot alien; but that was gone as soon as it came when she spotted Supergirl's furrowed brows and the large frown adorning her lips. Something wasn't right.

Kara's frantic blue eyes searched over each of the Legends' faces, as if expecting them to suddenly burst out attacking her or something. When they didn't, and when she spotted the unconscious aliens laying buried in the sand, her frown only deepened. "I don't understand." Her voice was small, fragile, and Deserey got the feeling she was trying very hard not to cry. "They're all -- and you're all --" At first Desserey thought she was talking about the aliens she'd just taken down, but Kara's gaze was flickering between the Legends and where she'd flown off to earlier. What the hell was going on?

Supergirl let out an angry cry, throwing her fist at a near by bolder, making Dez jump; the thing went soaring into the air. Deserey didn't see where it landed. Somewhere way out of her view. "This doesn't make any sense!" Kara screamed. And before any of the Legends could question her outburst, she was taking off again, tearing through the sky at unbelievable speed.

"Should we follow her?" Ray asked. He frowned, concerned in a way that only he could really pull off.

Martin shook his head in an instant. "She is almost as fast as Barry. Even at our fastest, none of our fliers will be able to catch up."

"So, what? We just wait for her to come back?" Kendra asked.

"Or," Sara said, "we could go see what got her so worked up."

It was a simultaneous motion, when the Legends looked to their captain, each, in turn, waiting for his inevitable protest. Rip stared back at them, rolling his eyes and letting out a long agitated sigh; but he bit his tongue, whatever lecture he wanted to dish out dying before it even seen the light of day. "I'd tell you all that messing with other worlds is arguably more dangerous than messing with time, but what would be the point? You never listen to me anyway."

Leonard smirked, maybe because they'd already managed to irritate the captain, maybe because he was looking forward to finding some mischief. "Then, we're all in agreement."

It took maybe an hour or better for the team to reach the nearest city -- National City. For one thing traveling with such a large party was quite the inconvenience. The fliers took to the sky, going ahead of the rest of them. Cabs were out of the question, so Rip spent their final time jump (until the ship was repaired that was) on getting the rest of the team into the city. And when they got there, it became pretty clear why all the cabs services were down. For miles upon miles people were just standing -- in the middle of the road, on the side walks, on the rooftops. Everywhere. It didn't look like they were so much as blinking. Were they even breathing? The sight had Deserey's heart sinking, the sea from the rooftop so long ago filling up her lungs all over again.

"Something tells me this isn't typical behavior for this earth..." she muttered. Rip landed the Waverider on top of the only clear rooftop -- a tall building called Cat.co, judging from that bright ass sign out front. The Hawks, Firestorm, and Atom met them on the roof, touching down just as the Waverider's doors opened. Sara and the two crooks stalked out, in a hurry to catch up with the rest of their team it seemed, but Deserey hung back with Rip for a moment. "Hey, how did you know about Supergirl if she's from a different universe?"

Rip shrugged, a dubious sort of expression adorning his face. Again, his hands were shoved into his coat pockets, making Dez wonder once more if the action was a nervous tick. Did everything make him uncomfortable? "In 2017, she comes to Earth One, our Earth, for the first time. She'll help defend our world from an alien race called the Dominators." It took her a second to recall that she actually had already heard this story -- from Barry when he went to Leonard for help stealing that gizmo from ARGUS. "After that, it becomes something of a yearly crossover."

Desserey couldn't stop the grin from forming. "Yearly crossover? What, like in TV shows?"

Rip shrugged again, but there was a hint of amusement on his own lips this time. It was gone before Deserey had the chance to tease him about it. "I may have also met her cousin a time or two. He might have mentioned her."

"Her cousin?" Dez raised an eyebrow. "Uh, what did she call him, Superman? The one that apparently looks like Ray?"

His response was a brief nod and a small hum. Deserey let out a small laugh of her own, shaking her head slowly. They're captain was really something else. "One of these days...I'm gonna need a detailed account of everything you've ever done."

As luck would have it, Supergirl had also touched down in the Cat Co. building. The building was filled top to bottom with people, all in a zombified state, just like everyone outside; and by the time the Legends reached the top floor Kara was going ballistic. She was running around, waving her hands in front of people's faces -- they all sat at their computers, unblinking, unmoving. Just typing away at the computers. The monitors even showed a strange, unfamiliar language, that Deserey assumed could only be alien. At least if it was normal, human techy stuff, Ray and Martin didn't look like they'd ever learned anything about it. It was all way too much like a Doctor Who episode for Deserey's liking. And it might as well have been, what with the Legends' time traveling and Supergirl's alien fighting. We even have a brit in a trench coat... Deserey thought, before forcing her mind back on track.

Kara was all but begging the people at the desks -- maybe her friends -- to notice her, to come back to her. When they didn't move an inch, the alien girl backed herself against the wall, all but pulling her own hair out, looking like she might start screaming. Her eyes were bulging from her sockets, chest heaving up and down. "I -- I can't...it's happening again..."

"Hey." Sara's voice was oddly calm, quieter than Deserey had ever heard her speak before. Soothing, the way it had been whenever she tried consoling Dez over her suicidal tendencies. Sara took a hesitant step forward, her brow knitting together, uncertain. "Just take it easy, alright? We can help you. Just tell us what's going on."

"They're going to kill the whole planet..." The sentence was uttered so quietly that Deserey almost didn't hear it. She wasn't even sure she'd heard it correctly, but from the way the others around her blanched... Even Mick and Leonard seemed uneasy.

Ray frowned, glancing between the other Legends and Supergirl. It was pretty obvious what he was thinking, it was written all over his face, but he spoke the words anyway. "The whole planet? Guys, we have to do something..."

Leonard sighed, trying to make it look like he didn't give a damn. But Deserey was starting to see through that little facade. "Of course we do..."

"How are they planning on destroying a whole fucking planet?" Deserey asked. It was a little detail, but it was the only important detail, and she really wanted to put a stop to her team's little habit of redundancy before it started.

"It -- something called the Myriad," Supergirl told them. "I-it's like mind control. Could be used to enslave planets. I -- My Aunt Astra -- She thought it would save, Krypton, I think. But our High Council deemed it too dangerous, and locked them in a prison called Fort Rozz. They escaped, and -- and now Non is using Myriad to - to..." She trailed off, pushing herself away from the wall, pacing back and forth. Her fingers kept combing through her hair, like she didn't know what to do with them since there wasn't anything to punch. Kara blinked rapidly, and Deserey's heart twisted in its cage. She remembered what it felt like when Rip had first showed her that image of their world's future, burning to the ground. And again, when Ray had accidentally lost that piece of his suit in the seventies, that version of Central City they'd had to stop from coming to pass... It was hardly the same thing, but she thought she had some small understanding of what Kara was feeling at the moment.

"R-right," Deserey nodded slowly. Her stomach had dropped through the floor. "So, uh, how do we stop it?"

Kara shook her head. "That's just it!" she cried. "We can't! I can't! I went to my cousin's Fortress of Solitude -- where he keeps all the remaining secrets of our home planet -- and I couldn't find anything! Not even my mother could..." She trailed off, her voice cracking. She was scared, desperate. About to lose it.

The door to the elevator dinged, drawing everyone's attention. A skinny women with short blonde hair and expensive looking heels sauntered out from the elevator's lift, her eyes down cast into her cell phone, rambling on and on like she hadn't noticed the state the world was in. "Kierra, call Harrison Ford and tell him that I'm flattered, but once and for all, I do not date older men, especially if they're married."

Supergirl looked up at the sight of her, eyes widening with shock, and maybe a bit of relief. She blinked away whatever tears that had been beginning to form, running her fingers through her hair before letting her hands rests on her hips, clearing her throat.

The elevator woman glanced up, briefly, from her phone at the noise. She blanched a little as she spotted the red caped woman. "Oh, Supergirl! Well, what a pleasant surprise." She cocked her head to the side. "What, do we have a nine AM?"

"You're not a mindless drown," Kara breathed. The Legends were really just standing behind her awkwardly now.

"Uh, no." The woman shook her head, still not entirely noticing the Legends or the zombified employees behind them, typing away at those computers of theirs. Was she really that oblivious? "No, I learned that lesson when Demi Moore and I wore the same dress to the premiere of Ghosts. Never again!"

Deserey raised an eyebrow. What did a dress have to do with anything? But Supergirl shook her head, moving the conversation forward before Deserey could ask about it. "Ms. Grant, listen to me. Everyone in the city is effected by this alien signal. They're acting like automatons. Haven't you noticed?"

The woman, Ms. Grant, glanced behind the Kryptonian, eyes drifting to the zoned out employees at the computers. "Hm, yes, well, they are a bit more quiet than usual." There was the tiniest look of amusement in her eyes. "Maybe my reign of terror has finally reached its peak effectiveness." Her eyes finally landed on the team of time travelers from another universe. "Who are they?"

"They're the Legends," Kara waved a dismissive hand.

Ms. Grant tilted her head to the side, looking thoughtful for a moment. "Egotistical, but catchy. I like it. People can easily get behind it."

Dez raised an eyebrow at her, not entirely sure what to make of the woman's comment. "Lady, are you trying to market us?"

Ms. Grant shrugged. "Unless some other reporter has already called dibs." The Legends exchanged looks with one another, each speechless in their own right. Then, Kara's phone dinged.

Ms. Grant looked like she'd won the lottery when she spotted the alien take it out, reading whatever text she'd just received. "Ah, you do have a phone. Can I have that number, please?" Seriously? What was with this lady? Her whole world was going to hell and all she cared about was getting an interview? Reporters were ridiculous.

"It's Superman!" Kara looked at the Legends, ignoring Ms. Grant's question all together. Deserey thought she might start crying from relief.

"Can I get his number as well?" Ms. Grant asked.

"He's coming to help," Supergirl went on, still ignoring the reporter woman. They both ran to the balcony on the far side of the room, leaving the Legends to shuffle together near the desks. Deserey wasn't sure how much help Superman would be, considering Kara just said there was no way to stop what was happening, but she elected not to say anything about it out loud, lest it upset the poor woman. Besides, she wanted to get a good look at this alien cousin and see just how alike he and Ray really looked.

Deserey moved towards the window, peering out, trying to spot this 'Super' man. She caught sight of a blue blur soaring through the sky like the Little Einsteins going on a trip in their favorite rocket ship. That must've been him. Dez was expecting him to land next to his cousin on the balcony. (They both had flight, apparent super strength, and who knew what else? It couldn't be that far of a leap to assume they had super vision too.) But as soon as Superman crossed the boarder and entered National City, he dropped straight down into the zombified crowd, evidently joining them.

Kara frowned, pressing her hands against the rail of the balcony, the metal bending under her grip. "Oh, no... It's affecting my cousin too."

"What is it?" Ms. Grant frowned.

"Myriad..."

"Myriad?" The reporter woman paled, and Deserey guessed she was finally realizing just how royally screwed their earth was. "Wait, if it's effecting Superman, are any of us safe?"

"Well, I'm no Superman..." Deserey turned at the sound of a new voice, male, deep, but somehow floaty, arrogant. Maybe a little too smug for a situation like that. He stepped out from the same elevator Ms. Grant had before, a smug little grin tacked onto the edges of his lips. Dark hair was combed over the same way nearly every rich white boy wore their hair, an amused little twinkle in his eyes. "But I have my moments." Deserey instantly disliked him. Apparently, neither Supergirl or Ms. Grant cared much for the loser either, because they both narrowed their eyes at him in a simultaneous motion. Still, he went on as if he hadn't noticed. Maybe he just didn't care. "Do Kryptonians gloat?" he asked Kara. "Because I'll bet wherever he is 'ol Uncle Non is feeling pretty good about himself right now."

Deserey glared at him. "Piss off, asshat. No one asked for your opinion."

The man's eyes flickered to her for a moment, the cocky attitude being replaced with a perplexed expression, if not just for a moment. "Don't believe I've ever seen you here before." His expression was hard to gauge. Was it threatening or intrigued? Worried or confused? All of the above? "Name's Maxwell Lord."

"Yeah, I didn't ask," Deserey snapped.

Ms. Grant hummed with much the same mannerism as Deserey herself. She folded her arms over herself, eyeing this Lord guy up and down like he was the scum of the earth. "I'm not surprised your brain is still intact, Max. What is it they say? Only cockroaches survive the apocalypse."

"Good to see you too, Cat," Lord said, that irrigating smirk returning once more as he gave a wink at the reporter. "You look lovely, considering the end is neigh."

Leonard scoffed and rolled his eyes. He leaned against the wall, glaring at the Ms. Grant, Lord, and Dez. "You three done asserting your dominance?"

"Not really, no," Dez shook her head. "But let's go ahead and move on."

"Right," Supergirl nodded. She turned to Lord, scrunching up her eyebrows. "Why aren't you affected?"

Lord gestured to his ears, where he wore these odd contraptions that looked something like hearing aids. "Ion blockers."

Deserey had no fucking clue what that meant, but Ray nodded like that made sense. "So, they're probably using a LTE interface system," he reasoned.

"Which they stole from me," Lord put in.

"No asked. No one cares," Dez told him. He glared back at her.

"They're using my satellites to send neural signals directly into the minds of everyone in National City," Lord went on, and Deserey didn't miss the boasting nature of which his next words were spoken. "These scramble the signal before they reach my brain."

Kara glared at him, now, too. She looked like she wanted to punch him and send him flying straight into the sun. "If you invented technology that blocks Myriad, why didn't you give it to the DEO?"

Lord shrugged carelessly. "Once Henshaw and his Trusted Girl Friday stepped down, I had no one at the DEO to trust." Dez had no idea who 'Henshaw' or this 'Trust Girl Friday' were supposed to be, but Kara looked even more homicidal towards him for that comment.

Ms. Grant hummed, settling herself on top of one of the desks where one of the zombie nerds were typing. "Well clearly not everyone needs this ear wig thing, because I'm not wearing one, and they don't have one." She nodded at the Legends. "And our brains our perfectly in tact."

Lord raised a challenging eyebrow at Ms. Grant, glancing at her ears as if to make sure she was indeed not wearing an ion blocker. "I see you got the earrings I sent you."

Ms. Grant clicked her tongue, an unamused laugh escaping her lips. "Oh, I get it. Ion blockers in the diamonds."

"Mhm."

"Oh, so many karats and yet so functional."

Lord let out a flirtatious chuckle, making Deserey roll her eyes. "Didn't seem right for the world to lose Cat Grant's mind."

Cat rolled her eyes, turning her attention back to the Legends again. "What about this group of...reasonably attractive individuals?" She muttered something about them looking like an idealistic group of a cheesy CW show, but Deserey was a little too preoccupied with the zombie freaks to ask her to repeat whatever she'd said.

Kara shrugged, ignoring the part of Cat's comment in which she had called the Legends 'reasonably attractive.' "Well, you guys are from another Earth, right?"

Lord raised a curious eyebrow. Dez sighed, making her annoyance as apparent as possible. "Yes, the whole multi verse thing is real. Old news. Moving on."

Martin nodded, eyes widening after a moment, a thought clearly popping into his head. "People from our Earth must vibrate at a different frequency from which people of your earth vibrate."

Mick snickered, putting on this big ass creeper grin. "Sounds kinky."

Dez nodded in agreement. "Yeah, seriously."

The scientists rolled their eyes at the duo. Martin shook his head disapprovingly, clicking his tongue like a father scolding his children. "Would it kill you two to not make everything so crude?"

"Yes," Mick said. Dez allowed herself one small smirk as Martin rolled his eyes once more. She figured Mick really must have just said it to get on the professor's nerves, and it had clearly worked. But they didn't have the time for the usual team banter. They had to figure this thing out.

Apparently, Kara was thinking the same thing, because she kept glancing at the window, a deep frown etched onto her features. "If it only targets humans of this earth, why was my cousin affected?"

"Nature vs. Nurture," Lord guessed. An amused little smirk slowly stretched out over his face; it made Deserey want to clock him. "He may be alien, but your cousin grew up on Earth. Seems like environmental factors, being raised by ordinary people, made his brain more human." He let out a quiet chuckle, and Deserey tried real hard not to deck him. She could tell from Kara's clenched fists that the Kryptonian was doing the same. "The Man of Steel, brought to his knees all because he went to kindergarten and watches Sesame Street."

"You think this is funny?!" Kara snapped. Her eyes turned red for a moment, and Deserey jumped back. It wasn't hard for her to imagine laser beams shooting out from her eye sockets. Did she have laser eyes too? Just how many powers did one girl need?

Lord's amusement dropped in an instant, his eyes narrowing at Supergirl like she was the one causing all of this. "Everything I have feared has come to pass! I couldn't be more serious!"

Ray shifted his weight from foot to foot, clearing his throat, fiddling with his hands before speaking up. "If they're using your satellites can't you reprogram them and destroy this Myriad thing from the inside?"

Lord shook his head, making Dez wondered why he was even still there. He didn't seem to be adding any commentary that was particularly useful. Then, again, neither was she, she supposed... Her fifteen minutes of bad assery had come to an end. "I tried. There's some pretty epic force fields around those satellites at the moment."

Kara crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes at the loser suspiciously. "You're always ten steps ahead, Max. I know you have a plan."

"Of course I do," he said smugly. "We kill them all."

And just like that the room erupted into shouts, namely coming from the Legends but there were a few protests from Kara as well.

"We can't kill them! We're not animals!" Ray argued.

"What would that say about us if we stooped to their level?" Martin demanded. "Let's maintain our honor!"

"Killing is never the answer!" Kara shouted.

Cat waved her hands, gesturing for everyone to shut up. "How do you plan on killing an army of Supermans, Max?" She didn't sound like she was on board but skeptical, like she didn't think he could actually do it.

Max shook his head. "I'm not telling until everyone is on board."

Dez rolled her eyes. "You are a child."

"Wouldn't want any of you to stop me," he shrugged.

Dez glared at him. "We have more pressing issues than some rich white boy snob." She glanced at Ray, realizing he was also a millionaire. "Not you though Ray. I like you. Don't like him." She glared back at Lord. "He seems like a bastard."

Lord glared back at her, moving forward the slightest bit, maybe trying to seem intimidating. Dez wasn't backing down, though. "I don't exactly see any of you coming up with a better alternative!" He looked directly at Supergirl now. "We're way past villains-of-the-week and kittens stuck in trees. We're at war, and the only way to win a war is to kill the enemy before they kill us." His eyes narrowed. "So, time to grow up and put on the big girl cape."

Kara hesitated. Dez could see how torn up she was over all of this. She couldn't imagine losing an entire planet not only once but twice. Her head must have been spinning out of control. And then here was this asshole telling her she had to kill the only remaining family she had left from her home. It was an impossible situation. How the hell was she supposed to make a call like that?

Sara withdrew her batons, her own eyes narrowing as she turned towards the front of the room. "Looks like someone got past security." At first Deserey wasn't sure what she was looking at, but then she saw him. Salt and pepper hair, fair skin like Kara's. Dull, beady eyes. Vacant expression. He was a villain if Deserey had ever seen one.

The man, Non Dez guessed, glanced around the room, glancing past the humans with little interest, as if they weren't worth a second of his time, like they were little more than pests he intended to exterminate, gas out. His eyes landed on Kara. "The son of Jor-El has already knelt before me. Soon you will too." His eyebrows shot up, almost looking surprised when Kara stepped in front of everyone, raising her fists. "I don't want to fight you, child."

Kara smirked. "Afraid I'll win?"

Non was unmoved by the taunt. "You have already lost. Accept it and the glorious fulfilment of Astra's vision. In the end, she defeated you."

"This doesn't look like victory to me, and all your doing is betraying her," Kara said. Dez had no idea what they were talking about, but she held her tongue. At least for the moment. This was between Kara and her bat shit crazy uncle. "I was with her in her final moments. We forgave each other, paid respect to our blood bonds. She didn't want this."

"Of course she did. It's what everyone wants, is it not?" Non gave a brief shrug, like he could even remotely understand what humans wanted. "Peace on Earth. Goodwill towards man."

Cat scoffed. "It's a lot less like Christmas out there and more like Dawn of the Dead."

"The human race finally has a chance to live," Non insisted.

"For the love of God..." Dez groaned. This got everyone's attention, most noticably Non's. His brows were raised, like 'how the hell did all these puny humans surpass my supreme super villain awesomeness?' "Do not start monologuing!" She rolled her eyes, Non watching her the way a person's eyes might follow a fly they'd been trying to swat to death for thirty minutes. "I swear, every time a bad guy monologues I die a little inside, which is kind of a big deal for me!" She shook her head, Non still watching her, maybe preparing to smite her with all his wanna be godly wrath. "Like, okay. We get it. You're a bad dude. Chill."

"Yeah," Leonard agreed with that usual drawl of his. "Speaking of chill..." In the blink of an eye, he had the Cold Gun raised, pulling the trigger; the icy blast sent Non flying right out the window, spiraling across the sky. Over powered or not, he'd been caught off guard by the weapon.

Sara turned to the Legends, taking charge at once. She nodded to Ray and Martin. "You two work with this guy," she nodded at Lord, "to figure out how to stop Myriad. The rest of us will hold off Non and his crew." Then, she frowned, glancing sheepishly at Rip. "Sorry. Your job."

But there was this strange look in the captain's eyes, maybe something like pride? Deserey wasn't sure. He had the same look on his face back when he'd first appointed Jax the new mechanic of the Waverider, an expression that read, clear as day, 'oh you are perfect for this job!' "By all means," Rip told her.

Sara grinned, turning towards the nearest exit before Kara stopped her. "Are you sure about this? This isn't your Earth, you don't have to help me. I - Non is dangerous."

"Lady, we've been chasing after an immortal idiot for the better half of this year," Deserey told her. "Dangerous is pretty well covered for us."

Kara looked pretty torn between insisting they leave because of the danger and crying from relief. "Thank you," she decided.

"You can thank us after we save your Earth," Sara told her. She grinned at the Legends next. "Let's go kick some alien ass!" Dez grinned right back. This was gonna be epic.


	48. Higher Morality Hero Crap

It was sort of annoying, Dez thought, fighting a guy who could fly. For one thing, she couldn't hit him. He'd fly higher before she got the chance, and there wasn't enough sand in the world to help her reach him. It didn't help that he also had laser eyes (seriously an actual alien with laser eyes) that could cut through just about anything or that he could punch holes through walls or that with a huff and a puff he could bring a house down. He seemed to have all the same powers Kara did, only he was ten times more skilled, even though she had been on Earth way longer and, from what Kara had told the Legends, the Earth's sun was what gave them power here. (It didn't make much sense to Deserey, but then again she had never been much of a science geek.)

Non was holding his own against the six Legends that hadn't stayed at Cat.co, plus Supergirl herself. The guy was seriously OP, coupled with all that big bad energy. Deserey thought, if this world were a super hero movie, this would have been the climax. She could already hear the dramatic music they'd add into the background in editing.

Somewhere in the midst of battle Kara had bent a piece of metal with her heat vision. Deserey couldn't tell if she'd done it on purpose or accident, but either way Sara had decided to use it to her advantage. She charged forward, ducking under the laser eye beams and soaring vehicles hurling through the air, scooping the thing up from the ground; and with her new found weapon in hand, the White Canary tossed the metal in the air like a boomerang. It didn't do much to harm Non; in fact, it was crushed upon impact with his skin. But Deserey thought the effort was nice.

Captain Cold and Heatwave's guns were useless, too. The streams from the respective guns only reached so far before losing momentum, freezing and burning something else entirely. A tree, a mailbox. Anything but the intended target. Rip's gun didn't help much either. Same issue. Range not far enough. Useless against the over powered boss man. There were even a few instances in which the three of them had almost hit a group of marching, brainwashed civilians, prompting Supergirl to snap at them. Above all else, they needed to protect the people, after all. Flying douchebags be damned.

The only ones who could even reach him were Kendra, Carter, and Supergirl; but even with the three of them combining their abilities, Non was kicking their asses. Carter'd send a hefty swing his way, one strong enough to knock any man right out of the sky and send him tumbling to his demise. But maybe that was the problem. Any man. Non wasn't a man, not entirely anyway, not really. He wasn't human. All he had to do was flick his finger, and Kendra was crashing on to the rooftop of the nearest building.

Kara sucked in a huge gulp of air, letting it out in one, long breath -- the destruction that followed was cataclysmic. The wind tore through buildings, power lines, destroyed the road, taking Non and anything not bolted to the ground right along with it; the Legends had to grab hold of something sturdy to avoid the same fate. The three flying heroes landed next to the rest of the team, Kendra rubbing her arm from where she'd been hurt during her latest hit. Leonard was scowling, maybe it was that sixth sense he'd mentioned. Maybe he figured something awful was about to happen. "This isn't working."

Dez snorted. "No shit." She had specs of sand stuck in her hair, no doubt making her look like a homeless slob; the back of her hands were itchy. She wasn't sure if that was due to her nerves or the fact that her hands were extremely dry, which had her wondering when the last time she'd put lotion on her hands was. Such a strange thing to think about in the midst of battle...

Sara's hair was a bit tussled, knotted in some places, and her white battle uniform was dyed black and brown in some places from where she'd had a wrestling match with the concrete. The rest of them weren't much better. Varies scrapes and cuts all over their bodies -- under their eyes, on their cheeks, elbows, legs. Everywhere. Yet somehow Kara was still flawless. She hadn't so much as ripped her suit or broken a nail. There wasn't a bruise on her; if anything she looked like she might have just walked out of a beauty solon. The only sign she had had any sort of scuffle at all was the way she landed: knees crashing down, fist slamming into the concrete in front of her, making a little crack in the road. And the way she flipped her hair over her shoulders when she stood up right. Even that looked stunning.

Kara eyed Carter and Kendra, her brow furrowing, a curious yet some how childish smile, albeit small, tugging at her lips. The light from the sun caught her eyes just right, and Dez found herself thinking, Oh my god she's such a doll! Something about that angle, even in the middle of a fight, it just made her look so pure, innocent. Even after everything she had lost, even after learning her aunt and uncle were total nutjobs, she was just so...hopeful. She was pure. "You didn't say you were Thanagarian." Thanagarians. Those were the aliens Savage got the tech from in the fifties to make his little bird freaks.

Kendra nit her brows together, aggravating a cut that lay across her forehead. "That's because we're not..."

"Oh," Kara cleared her throat awkwardly. "Sorry. It's just...your wings...I thought..." She waved the thought away, shaking her head. "Never mind, not important."

"What is important is taking this guy down." Sara was getting into serious assassin mode, now. It was startling, how different she was when she got like that. Her eyes hardened, and Dez could see the razor edges that had been forged through years of torment, doing whatever it took to survive, unspeakable things. She could see the bloodlust outlining those beautiful blue irises, too. Her shoulders tensed, feet planted firmly, weapons raised at all times, eyes flickering around their surroundings, up to the sky searching for Non. Sometimes, Deserey got so wrapped up in how comfortable she'd gotten on the Waverider, among her fellow Legends, she forgot how scary her team mates were.

Those harsh, war tarnished blues landed on Kara's -- more child like than the assassin's, but determined and filled with strength and courage all the same. She was ready, scared, but ready. Both women were bad ass in their own rights, powers or no. "We're gonna need to know all the weaknesses your people have."

Kara shook her head, putting her hand on her forehead as if she were getting a headache. Deserey doubted she was able to get those, though. "There isn't much..."

Rip shoved his hands in his pockets. That nervous tick of his again. Always so nervous, anxious. Too anxious to be a captain. A bit hypocritical from time to time. He was desperate, and maybe just slightly lost. Deserey liked to think he'd found his way with the Legends. She knew she had. "Well, there is one thing..." When everyone remained silent, Rip took that as his cue to continue. "Kryptonite."

"No," Kara said quickly. "That's archaic!"

"This whole city is anarchy," Mick pointed out ever so helpfully.

"What's kryptonite?" Kendra asked.

"The radioactive remnants of my home planet," Kara said. "It's toxic to kryptonians here."

"Of course it is," Dez sighed. She glanced at Rip, eyebrow raised, absently scratching at her dry hands. "And you know about it somehow? What's up with that? You been here before or something?"

Rip gave a small shrug, but otherwise her question went unanswered, Kara snapping when Leonard suggested they just go find some kryptonite and send it Non's way. Easy peazy lemon squeezy. "I won't use it on anyone." She shook her head. "I'm not cruel! I'll find another way!"

Leonard scoffed. One hand was placed over the trigger of his Cold Gun, eyeing the sky with almost as much gusto as Sara. Observational. Pragmatist. Always thinking, always plotting, waiting for something to go horribly wrong. Making exit strategies. He could have been a wartime consigliere if he'd went to college or even finished high school for that matter. "Higher morality hero crap again?" From the way he spat the word 'hero' one would have thought it were an insult. Coming from him, it probably was.

Supergirl's childish gaze changed faster than Deserey could blink. Harsh, sharp. She looked like she might have been tempted to deep fry Leonard's brain, but to his credit his composure didn't waver under her stare. He almost appeared to be more comfortable under that gaze. It was familiar, he knew what to expect from it, but the smiling? The lightheartedness? The caring? That was uncharted territory for him, made him fidgety. It's why he could never trust kind people like Ray, Kara, and especially Barry. That's what Deserey figured, anyway. "I won't stoop to his level!" Though, it was unclear who's level she was talking about -- Non's or Lord's?

"Well, better think of something fast." Carter's jaw was set. His knees were bent, wings springing from his back in one fluid motion, his mace clenched tightly in his fist. Life times of running and fighting, training, leading. It had all turned him in to a fierce warrior. The battlefield was the only home he had ever truly known. "He's coming back around..."

At first, there was only a blur carried by a gust of wind; then there was the dirt that was kicked into the air as Non came to an abrupt halt, his feet hovering just above the ground. His wrinkled face frowned, those dead eyes flicking between the humans with lackluster movement. "These are the best of your world?" To say he was unimpressed would be an understatement. He was, quite frankly, underwhelmed. "These people? These broken, uncoordinated, stupid, useless humans?"

"Oh. Ouch," Dez sneered, placing a hand over her heart in the most dramatic way she could manage. "That hurt my feelings." There was a time those words would have hurt. Hell, maybe they still stung the slightest bit, but she was learning things, traveling with the Legends. She was learning she didn't have to listen jerks like him anymore, she didn't have to hear words like that. Over the last several months she had done more than any ordinary person could ever hope to accomplish. She'd fought terrorists, evil Russian scientists. She'd taken on evil dicks from the future and whack-o bird monsters. Hell, she had even single handledly taken down a bunch of aliens when the Legends had first arrived on Earth 38. She was learning she was pretty fucking awesome.

"I don't do feelings," Mick growled. In one quick motion, his Heat Gun was raised; flames shot out of the barrel, hurtling towards Non. He was closer to the ground this time, but of course when the fire hit him it did diddly squat. Not even so much as a singe on the bastard's cape. The attack only managed to piss the arsonist off and further Non's distaste for these ragtag humans. So barbaric. So spiteful. It was a good thing he was wiping them out, he thought. He could have killed them all with the snap of his fingers. Too easy. He could take them down at any time, he was sure, so he decided to have some fun with them first.

"Uh...guys...?" Ray's timid voice called through the com system.

Then there was Jax's frantic, "Yo, we got a problem up here!"

Five figures appeared on the balcony of Cat.co. Each of them stepped on to the ledge, and even from the ground Deserey could see their stoic expressions. Oh God. No time to think. By the time Deserey realized what was happening, they were already jumping, already falling. In the blink of an eye, Supergirl leapt off the ground and into the sky, Carter and Kendra not far behind her. The two hawk warriors hovered a few feet in the air, quickly catching two of the people as they soared down, blank faced. Kara easily snatched up a third, but missed when she went to grab the last two people.

Dez's heart jumped up her throat. All she could do is stand and watch, uselessly as the two fell faster and faster, it seemed. Yet, somehow, simultaneously the fall seemed to last a life time. Kara's cry of, "No!" echoed, ringing in Dez's ears. It was all too close to home.

Fortunately, relief came quick, like the tides of the sea on the beach. The Atom and Firestorm emerged from the Cat.co building, each flying faster than Dez had ever seen either of them fly before. They caught the two remaining people just before they hit the ground.

"Missed one." And just like that, all the relief dissipated. There was a sixth person, one that Deserey hadn't noticed before, not until it was too late, and judging from the looks on the others faces they hadn't seen them either -- they hadn't saved them either. "Do not stand against me." It was a drone doing the talking, one of the people who'd jumped from the balcony -- a dark skinned man with vacant brown eyes (they must have been enticing when he was able to think for himself) -- but it was Non's words. Another drone spoke up, another from the group swan dive -- this one a short man, white, brown hair, easily pinned as a computer geek. "Or more will die." Deserey thought the threat was mostly aimed at Kara.

The Black man stepped forward, staring at Kara coldly. They must've been close, if Kara's expression was anything to go by -- her eyes were shattered. "Everyone you know, love, and care for will die." He placed his hands on either side of Supergirl's neck, the Legends getting rather fidgety. They were ready for a fight, despite the threats, in spite of the failure. They'd failed before, it never stopped them. Why should it now? At least, they weren't going to let this world lose it's beacon of hope just because they were a bunch of screw ups. Still, they didn't attack. Not yet. This man, however threatening, was innocent. He wasn't in control of himself. "Accept defeat, Kara Zor-El. I have already saved National City. Next, I will save the world."

With that said, the survivors from the jump marched their way back into the Cat.co building, as if nothing has happened. Non was gone too, the coward running off to hide in his bad guy HQ no doubt. Though the loss weighed heavily on them all, Ray and Kara were the most effected by the innocent they couldn't save, that sixth person no one seen fall. Ray gently bent down, closing their eyes. Kara muttered something under her breath, a kryptonian prayer Deserey guessed. She closed her eyes, silently wept. It wasn't the first time she had seen someone die, it wasn't even the first time someone had died because of her, but that knowledge didn't make things any easier.

There was a moment of silence, or maybe it was just the fact that no one dared to speak, lest the inevitable argument between the Legends ensued. Maybe they just didn't have the energy to argue this time. It was their fault. Someone should have noticed. They should have saved them. But it was too late. The silence was only broken by the ring of a phone. Kara's. She dug into the pocket of her skirt, clearing her throat, smoothing out her hair and taking a few steps away.

Deserey could still hear her side or the conversation, though. "I'm fine." They'd only met a few hours ago, but even she wasn't convinced by that lie. The person on the other end of the phone apparently thought the same thing, because Kara said, "Yes." And after a short sigh she asked, "Did you get to Cadmus? Did you and Hank find your dad?" Cadmus? Hadn't someone mentioned a Hank earlier?

"Where are you now? ... Stay there. If you come to National City, Myriad will take over you too... I'm not alone. I'm, uh, with Ms. Grant... Maxwell Lord protected her...and himself...yeah, well, I don't really have a choice. You don't know what it's like here, it's my only option. Besides, I have the Legends too...from Barry's world, yeah..." She trailed off for a moment, her blue eyes glassy, flickering back and forth. "I love you, Alex."

When they got back inside Cat.co Lord spilled the beans. His big plan -- a kryptonite bomb to off on Non and all his men. Supergirl and Superman would have to skip town for roughly fifty years, he'd admitted, but it was a small price to pay for saving the world. So he said. When Kara expressed concern for the people of her city, the rich douche confessed it would kill eight percent of the city's population. Too many people. Way, way too many people. "Eight percent of four million people. That is over three-hundred thousand people, Max!" Cat cried.

"Versus the seven billion people on the planet that Non wants to turn into zombies," Lord pointed out. Martin cringed slightly at the word "zombies." Dez just assumed he was still hung up on that sixth person no one could save. She was anyway. Lord shrugged carelessly. This was war, after all, casualties were to be expected.

Cat glanced at Supergirl, hands on her hips. "Are you seriously considering this?"

"We can't!" Ray cried before National City's hero had a chance to speak. He was by far the best of the Legends. In a world (or multi verse) where everyone and everything tried to lead people astray, Ray had somehow managed to stay on the path of purity the whole way through. He never wavered, never doubted what he believed in. He was the purest of pure, but he wasn't weak. If anything, his innocence made him that much stronger, that much braver. He knew what to fight for. "We already have a plan. Just let me finish working with the satellites and --"

"It's taking too long. We need to act now!" Lord insisted.

"We cannot risk our own humanity in doing so!" Martin spoke up. "I realize this is a war, but can't we maintain our honor?"

"I'd rather maintain my life, Professor," Mick shrugged. He'd gotten a beer from somewhere and was sipping it slowly. Maybe he'd snuck away to the Waverider to retrieve it or maybe he'd had it in his pocket this whole time. It was hard telling with him. Mick Rory was one of the most complex men Deserey had ever seen, sort of like fire she supposed. Unpredictable, untamable. Dangerous. Yet somehow warm and comfortable. A loyalist to the very end. A good friend. Someone you didn't want to cross. Underappreciated in his time. An enigma if nothing else.

The professor stared at the arsonist with wide eyes, alarmed. Always so analytical, hysterical at times, arrogant at others. But good nonetheless. A clear view of what is right and what is wrong. He had a tendency to push boundaries, push beyond the breaking points, but he wasn't unethical. In his case age truly did mean wisdom. And experience. In another life he could have been someone's Uncle Iroh, maybe.

"That's messed up, man." Then, there was Jax. Young, headstrong Jax with a heart of gold and a will made of iron. Young, but not naive. He could do anything the rest of them could and more. Smart, quick witted. He wasn't just some kid. He was, in many ways, the bravest of them all, and one could have argued he had taught the rest of them a great deal about courage, about standing up for what you believed was right.

"Look, I don't like it either, but it's the only play that makes sense..." Sara sighed.

Leonard hummed softly. He was sitting on a table top, one vacant of zombified persons, examining his fingernails. Something about the perch reminded Deserey of a cat, a rather comical comparison in the midst of such a horrific event. "Just like Rip wanted you to off Stein back in Russia..."

"What?" Martin cried.

"It was only if things went south! We weren't going to tell you!" Sara glared at Leonard, who merely shrugged.

"You were going to kill me??" Martin gaped at Sara, then Rip. "You told her to kill me?!"

"Is that really the biggest issue here?" Rip asked sheepishly.

"Yes!"

Before they could go on any further, Kendra broke it up. She had her arms folded in front of her, hair tucked behind her head. After years, life times, of being ripped to shreds, lost and confused, there she was, standing strong in spite it all. Defying it all. Sure, there were times, like at the pentagon or when she went psycho on Mick, when she lost control. But that was to be expected after everything she'd been through. She was strong, not because she was always in control or because she could fight ten, big muscler men at once the way Sara could. Her strength came from somewhere else. She was strong because she kept pushing forward, in spite of that nagging sense of apathy that threatened to overwhelm her. She was strong because she moved on.

The group argued pros and cons of Lord's plan for a while longer. Morality hero crap as Leonard had put it. No one wanted to destroy the whole city, but it was looking more and more like they would have to. Still, it didn't feel right. Not to the Legends, and certainly not to Kara, who had remained eerily quiet since the whole argument began. Her whole "I'll find another way!" thing she'd given Leonard and Rip earlier slowly fading away. "It's your city," Sara told Supergirl at some point. "Your world. It's your call." They split up, needed to think things through. The Legends gathered at the back of the spacious office floor, next to a group of drone zombies. Kara was on the balcony. Cat was lurking. Lord had left to his facility to get the bomb ready, apparently deciding he didn't need permission to be a murderous asshole. Things were looking pretty bleak.

"Maybe Non was right," Kendra said quietly. "We're not the best of this world, we're not even the best of our own world."

"We couldn't save that person," Ray added gloomily. "Not to mention every time we try to save people something goes wrong."

"Maybe we're in over our heads here..." Carter said, looking guilty for even saying it. But no one argued the idea. The hope, that spark of life that always seemed to fuel the Legends, however whacky, it was fading fast. They were losing faith in themselves, shifting into those self loathing, destroyed things everyone always said they were. Deserey was sick of it. Sick of being sad and angry all the time, sick of feeling lonely and inadequate. Of all of it. Like hell she was going to be shoved down, not anymore. No one controlled her life, it was finally, completely hers.

"Bullshit," Dez snapped. Everyone turned to stare at her with wide eyes, a few of her team mates opening their mouths to comment, but she barreled on not giving them the chance to interrupt her, lest she lose the fire ignited within her. "I mean, sure, we're broken and uncoordinated. He was right about that. And we do mess up a lot, I admit. We've doomed the world more times than I can count --"

"Are you going somewhere with this?" Leonard sighed, a hint of a glare beginning to form.

"You can't paint a picture with just one color," Deserey said.

"Meaning what exactly?" Jax frowned at her, eyes big and a bit childish. But the spark was back, however small. Sometimes, all it took was a few words of encouragement.

Deserey shifted, letting her eyes run over every one of her team mates in turn. She had grown to love each of them so much in such a little amount of time. They had all helped her so, so much, in more ways than one, some not even knowing what they'd done for her. It was because of them she was able to find a good place, a place where she actually kind of didn't mind herself. How could they possibly think ill of themselves? It was baffling. "We don't need to be in history books to be great, to be legendary, I mean -- shit! Just look at what we've already done!"

She waved her hand around, gesturing skyward towards the roof where the Waverider was perched still. "We stopped an immortal mad man and an actual evil scientist from taking over the Cold War. We saved Norway from a nuclear bomb, and rescued a bunch of kids from Sire Douchington III."

"Half of those problems only happened because we started them," Mick reminded.

Deserey waved the comment away. "So what? We're people, we screw up. Some more than others, but so what? Big deal! So, one a-hole says a few mean things. He took one look at us and decided we weren't worth his time, that we were nothing. He's underestimating us. He hasn't seen what we can do, he hasn't seen what we've done. He's just another dickwad who thinks he knows us better. And frankly, if y'all haven't figured out how epic you are by now, then..." She shrugged. "I don't know what to tell ya."

Cat Grant took a step forward, giving a curt nod at the Legends. "She's not wrong." And now all eyes were on her. She wasn't complaining though. "I haven't known your group very long, but I know how to spot potential as soon as it walks through the door." She shrugged. "I may not know your stories -- daddy issues, not enough positive reinforcement, bullies, lost loved ones, I'm sure you all have some tragic back story that makes you doubt yourself. They always do." The Legends shifted, their own individual nervous ticks on display for all to see. Each of them in turn were thinking of the ones they couldn't save. Anna, Ronnie, all the innocent people that couldn't be helped. Maybe the people she'd assassinated in Sara's case.

Cat twirled around the office a bit, her eyes rolling around to the back of her head as she did so. "Do you think I became the Queen of all Media by sitting around whining like a bunch of self loathing teenagers?"

Her harsh gaze landed on the Legends; they squirmed under her stare. "No. I had to claw my way up from the very bottom. I had to climb right out of the gutters. Greatness isn't easy. It isn't supposed to be easy.

"You have to work for it, you have to earn it. That's why not everyone can be great, it's too hard. The easier thing to do would be to lay down and admit defeat. Unfortunately, that isn't an option for anyone in this situation, is it?

"So whatever tragic heartache mumbo jumbo is holding you back, you need to stow it. You cannot allow yourselves to fall apart every time you fail, it's what they want, it's what they expect! It's why they try so hard to stunt your potential. But you make history, my dears, not the other way around. Push passed it, whoever broke you, whoever told you you wouldn't amount to anything, shove their words down, and be great anyway. Do it for the sake of this world and your own. Earn the name Legends, here and now."

The spark was back. Ray was sitting up straight, visibly inspired by Cat and Deserey's words. The others were more subtle, but it was still clear as day they were feeling better, giving nods of agreement, claps of hands on each others backs, even just staring intently and actually listening to everything being said.

"Supergirl needs your help," Cat went on, "this city needs your help! And I have no intentions of becoming a mindless drone today! I have already seen your potential. It's time you see it in yourselves." Her green eyes, sharp and intense as ever, ran over the Legends, checking that they were indeed inspired, before giving another brief nod of approval. "Now if you'll excuse me, it seems I need to go work my magic on Supergirl as well." With that, she stalked off to the balcony to inspire National City's favorite hero.

Leonard made a face as soon as she was gone. Maybe it was a mask, put on to hide the fact that he was actually feeling something positive for a change. "Ugh," he complained. "Hope speeches."

"God damn right hope speeches!" Dez said a bit too loudly.

He rolled his eyes, but he didn't say anything further. A few moments later, Kara came back out, Cat trailing behind her. She had a new light in her eyes as well; Cat was looking ever so smug behind her, happy to take all the credit for the hero's inspiration. Though to be fair she did have a great deal to do with it. "I have an idea," Kara said.


End file.
